


Reunions

by Tieshima



Series: The Legacy [2]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man - All Media Types, Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: CKD, Chronic Illness, Dubious Science, F/M, He's working on it though, Hey look I even planned for a smutty scene in here, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Steve is kind of a jerk, Tony's inscurities
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2018-10-18 08:50:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 29,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10613439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tieshima/pseuds/Tieshima
Summary: The Super Family has started to work out a rhythm but ofcourse sour super villains have to throw a wrench in things. Something is wrong with Tony and his husband's best friend suddenly appearing isn't helping.





	1. Chapter 1

_Breathe in._

_Breathe out._

_Breathe in._

_Breathe out._

“Very good Mr. Stark,” says Dr. Wu removing the stethoscope. “Everything sounds in order. At least as much order as a man with a reactor in his chest can be.”

Tony chuckles and runs a hand over the glowing reactor. “I take it that means I’m checked out to hop back in the suit?”

“Ha! I would never sign off on such insane risks, but you should feel free to engage in any crazy behavior you like.” Dr. Wu takes an x ray that an assistant hands him and holds it up to the light. “Besides, from what I hear, Ironman has not been jumping into battle as often as he used to.” The doctor gives him a sideways glance with a small smile on his face.

“Yeah well, War Machine is more qualified and whoever thinks raising a kid isn’t a full time job has obviously never had one.”

“Ah, yes.” Dr. Wu takes another set of x rays and holds them up to the light. “Children. It is amazing how such small beings can make such large impacts on our lives.” He hands the scans back to his assistance. “How has your chest been feeling since we started the steroid therapy?”

“Still a little sore but I’ve been breathing easier than before we started.”

“And the pain? Where is it?” The doctor presses the flesh of his pectorals, focusing on the muscles closest to the reactor.

“Mostly around the injection points and the reactor.”

“On a scale of 1 to 10?”

“Three.”

“Well within what we expected then. Shall we proceed with the last treatment?”

“I don’t know doc, you are one of the top surgeons in the world. You tell me.”

Dr. Wu’s smile grows wider and he turns to his assistant, speaking in Chinese. The assistant stares at him confused before the doctor points to a tray with five syringes on it. The assistant nods and rolls the tray over. Dr. Wu removes a syringe and examines it. He turns to Tony.

“Bottoms up?”

“Bottoms up.” Tony winces as the first dose is injected into the flesh to the right of his reactor. He sits patiently as Dr. Wu injects the major muscle groups along his chest and diaphragm. When the doctor finishes and turns away Tony rubs at his chest, then takes a deep breath. He smiles when he can breathe easier. After having his chest cut open and having a hunk of metal shoved in, Tony seemed to carry a constant pressure. His muscles struggled against the new configuration they had to work in even after all these years. But since Dr. Wu had brought this new therapy to him, he’s been breathing easier and easier after each visit. Now if only he could get a goodnight’s sleep.

“How do you feel Mr. Stark?” Dr. Wu asks. “Any dizziness? Pain? Nausea?”

“No, no more than before, and no.” Tony buttons up his dress shirt.

“Then you are clear to go. I’ll see you next month to see how everything is.”

Tony stands and gives the doctor a small bow. “Xièxiè. I appreciate you flying here to see me every month.”

The doctor returns the bow and says with a smile, “You’re a medical marvel Mr. Stark. Believe me, it is not a hardship. Especially when I am coming here on one of your wonderful jets.”

Tony chuckles and the three men walk out of the examination room. “Nobody can ever accuse me of not knowing how to travel in style. Enjoy your day Dr. Wu and again, thank you.”

Dr. Wu nods and watches Tony leave before he turns and says in Chinese, “Alright Zhao, onto the next ca-“ He furrows his brow when he does not see his assistant. He looks around him trying to spot the young physician. “Zhao?”

What he does not know is that his assistant had turned in the other direction after they left the examination room and made his way towards the back exit. As he passes a bin he slips off his white coat and shucks it through the hole. He finds his way out of the building and into an alley before he pulls out a cell phone and flips it open. He punches in a number and waits for the ringing on the line to stop before saying, “Stark just received the last of the injections. He still doesn’t know.”

“Good. The connection should be at its strongest now. Report back.” 

The line disconnects and the man slides his phone back in his pocket. He reaches down to his belt buckle and hits a button. His figure blurs and shimmers and the young Chinese physician becomes an elderly woman before stepping out of the alley and disappearing into the bustle of New York.

Out front Tony slides into the passenger seat of an armoured SUV. He turns to Happy and shoots him a smirk. “Let’s roll out.”

“Right away sir.” Happy pulls out into traffic after the click of Tony’s seat belt. “Everything in order?”

“The ticker is still ticking. Enough about me, any word from Steve? Is Mari any better?”

When Happy had dragged him out that morning, Steve was left alone with a cranky toddler recovering from the tail end of a cold and sleep deprivation. Tony had sat up with her most of the night hiding from his own nightmares while he soothed her’s. No amount of rocking, soft assurances, or warm drinks were able to put her back to sleep though. By the time Tony had to leave, Mari was reduced to a sobbing mess, clogging her already stuffed nose even more. Steve had assured him he had everything handled but he could not help but continue to worry.

“Just got a text from him a few minutes before you came out. He got her to go down for twenty minutes. Then he took her to the park in hopes that some fresh air would do her some good.”

“That’s why we have a balcony…” Tony grumbles.

“You can’t keep her locked away in the tower forever Tones. That’s probably how she got the cold in the first place. No exposure to the outside world.”

“No, Barton and his viral plague carrying ass is the reason she got sick.” Tony sighs. “You think I could convince Steve to let me turn the entrance hall into a decontamination chamber?”

“About as much as you could convince him to let you turn the guest bedroom into a sex dungeon.”

“It wasn’t a sex dungeon, it was more of a sex lounge. And besides, I had a better shot at that than you think. Not many people know how kinky he can be,” Tony says in a purr.

“Please don’t ruin another American icon for me.”

“Another!?!”

“Statue of Liberty 1993, St. Louis Arch 1995, the national-“

“Okay, that’s enough of memory lane. Where are we going? This isn’t to the tower.”

“I figured you’d like to join your family at the park.”

“You know me so well.” Tony leans forward and turns the radio playing AC/DC up a little louder.

Not long after, Happy pulls up to the park and Tony spies Steve sitting on a bench sketching. Before stepping out Tony pulls out a couple twenties and slides them onto dash.

“Go treat yourself to a coffee. No need for you to wait around here for us. I’ll text you.” He gives Happy a nod before making his way toward the distracted artist.

Tony follows where Steve occasionally flicks his gaze up to and sees Mari crouched over something with a her own sketch book and a box of crayons. A small glow warms his chest at the sight. With quiet steps he comes up behind the bench. Before Steve can feel him standing there Tony steps around and slides onto the bench next to him.

“So, which one is your’s?” Tony stretches an arm around his husband’s shoulders and leans in close.

Steve glances up at being snapped out of his bubble. His smile grows slow and wide. He returns the pressure against his side and leans back into the arm around his shoulders. He nods to Mari across the playground. “Mine’s the fluffy one doing the field study of the frog over there.”

Steve leans in to kiss his husband but meets air when Tony shoots up from his relaxed pose. The inventor leans forward and as he squints he can see Mari looking between her sketchbook and a lump on the ground. “Should we really be letting her play with wild animals?”

“It’s a frog, not a badger Tony. I think she’ll be fine.”

“They’re still germ ridden creatures.”

“You say that about anyone who tries to come in the apartment without using Germ-x.”

“We have a child with a compromised immune system, I don’t know what is so hard to understand about that. I mean Clint shows up with a cold and a couple days later she’s at the doctor’s in the same spot.”

“Speaking of doctors,” Steve closes his sketchbook and sets it aside. “How did today go?”

“Good. I can already feel the last of the pressure melting off.” Tony leans back again.

Steve nods and presses his lips to Tony’s cheek. “I’m glad to hear that. I’ve got plans to keep you around for a long time yet.”

“Wait!” They look up at the sound of Mari’s shout and see her chase after the frog that is hopping away. She realizes she forgot her crayons and scrambles to pick them. After she gathers the crayons in her arms haphazardly she returns to her chase. “Don’t leave! I have to study you! It’s for science!”

“Oh no. She’s already using that excuse?” A look of horror settles on Steve’s face as Tony starts laughing.

“Ha! Soon she’ll be yelling that up the stairs after setting the lab on fire.”

“We are not letting her near the flammables until she’s a teenager.”

“Yeah. That’s what my parents told me.”

“And?”

“There’s a reason I don’t have eyebrows in my third grade school photo.”

Steve shakes his head and pulls Tony closer to his side. They sit in silence watching the children play for a few minutes. Then Steve glances at Tony out of the corner of his eye.

“…Mari told me about her Aunt and Uncle today.”

Tony groans. “Did she now?”

“She’s the one that brought it up not me. She wants to send them a letter. To let them know she’s okay.”

Tony stays silent and tense.

“I know you agree with me.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Because when are you ever wrong?” Steve smiles at the withering look Tony shoots at him. “They’re her family Tony and she was only taken away because they couldn’t afford to take care of her. Not that they wouldn’t.”

Tony groans and runs his hands over his face and through his hair. “Fine. But we contact them on my terms.”

“Your terms? Don’t you mean our terms?”

“No. Mine. You’re too much of a softie.”

“Says the man that built a daycare center near a SHIELD building after he heard an agent say she wasn’t sure how she was going to keep her job and raise her three year old by herself.”

“That was an investment. For when we had kids.”

“We had barely started dating. We weren’t even thinking of marriage let alone kids. Just admit it. You have a heart of gold.” Steve leans in and nuzzles his face in Tony’s neck.

While the inventor turns to hide his blush, across the playground Mari is still stumbling after the frog. Every time Mari would catch up to the small creature the movement of another child or a stray ball or her box of crayons tumbling out of her arms would send it hopping off again. Before she realizes it, she follows the frog off the playground and into the surrounding trees. As the frog comes to rest again, Mari struggles to shift her sketchbook open and shuffle the box of crayons into her other arm. The box slips through her awkward grip and crayons scatter across the ground causing the frog to leap away between the gnarly roots of a large tree.

“Wait!” Mari swipes a crayon up and rushes forward in pursuit. She yelps when her foot slips in between the roots and falls forward onto her sketchbook. She groans as she lifts herself up to relieve the pressure the spiral binding is putting on her chest. She tries to pull her legs underneath her but something holds tight to her right foot. She twists and sees that it has sunk into a hole and is trapped between two large roots. She tugs and whimpers when it does not come loose.

“This is why you shouldn’t run off where your parents can’t see you,” says a deep voice.

She whips her head around trying to find the source of the voice in the shadows of the trees. When she looks behind her she see a large man with shaggy brown hair and a thick jacket with dark cargo pants. Her eyes widen at his hulking form before doubling her efforts to escape the tree’s grasp by pulling at her leg harder.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Settle down. I’m not gonna hurt ya.” He crouches and holds his hands up, one of which is holding a beaten up manila folder. He puts it under an arm and comes a little closer. “I’m just going to help you get loose. Don’t kick me…” With slow, exaggerated movements he reaches forward and wiggles her foot. He digs away some of the dirt and when he pulls off her shoe her foot slips free allowing her to scramble away. She presses her back against a tree and stares at him. The stranger reaches to hold out her shoe to her. She stares at his outstretched hand and notices that the fingers poking out of his fingerless glove are silver and metallic rather than flesh. He follows her gaze and quickly puts the shoe on the ground at her feet. When he backs away she grabs her shoe and slips it on, trying to take her eyes off him as little as possible.

“You shouldn’t run off where your parents can’t see you,” says the man in a soft voice.

Mari curls up in a ball and mumbles behind her knees, “I’m not supposed to do what strangers tell me to.”

The man chuckles and rubs at the bridge of his nose. “That’s um…yeah. Okay. I’m a friend of Captain Rogers.”

“Pops?”

The stranger looks up at her and his face melts into a soft expression. “…yeah. Your Pops. Anyway, I have something I need you to give him. It’s important.” He holds out the manila folder and Mari sees that his other hand has flesh fingers.

She takes the folder. “Why can’t you give it to him yourself?”

“It’s…complicated…”

“So is Calculus and I can do most of that in my head. Give me an equation to derive.” She opens the folder and finds pictures of a bald man with paper white skin and ice blue eyes along with some sort of bio.

“What?”

“Like y = [arccos(x)]^3. Or y = x2^(2x) + π^2.” She flips through the pages and finds more information and close up photos of a belt buckle. “FYI the answers to those are y’ = (-3(arccosx)^2)/((1-x^2)^(1/2)) and y’ = 2x (2x + (x^2)ln 2).”

The man’s face twists in confusion. “Was any of that English?”

“Yes.” She tilts her head and closes the folder. “Clint is showing me sign language. I’ve been learning Russian from Miss Nat.” She misses his flinch when she says Russian. “Would any of those help? I can do Icelandic but most people don’t Icelandic, do you know Icelandic?”

“Can’t say I do.” He reaches forward and starts picking up her crayons for her.

She closes the folder and picks up her sketch book. “You’re the man from the museum right? Your picture is in Papa’s exhi-“

“No. That man hasn’t been around for a long time.” He puts the last crayon in the box and hands it back to her. When she takes it he stands and steps away. “Now go on. Get on back before he realizes you’re gone. And make sure he gets that folder.”

“Okay.” She stands and moves towards the playground only to pause to look at him with a hesitant look.

He jerks his head towards the edge of the trees again. “Go on. Keep walk’n.”

Mari gives a small wave before going back out onto the playground. She looks to the bench and sees Steve standing in front of it with his sketchbook abandoned off to the side. His eyes are scanning the equipment when she sees he is not alone anymore.

“Daddy!” She runs and climbs onto Tony’s lap to wrap her arms around his neck in a hug.

“There you are.” Tony sighs in relief. He wraps her in a tight hug before pulling her away to look her over. “Why are you covered in dirt?” He brushes mud from her sleeves and her knees.

“This is for you.” She holds the folder out to Steve who arches an eyebrow.

He takes it and looks inside. As he looks through the pages his frown grows.

“Where did you get this?” he asks.

“From the man in the trees.”

Tony immediately turns her to face him. “What man?”

“He helped me get my foot loose. He said he was a friend of Papa’s and that it was important I give you that.”

“Did he say who he was?” Steve hands Tony the folder so he can look through it as well.

“No. I thought he was the man from your exhibit but he said he wasn’t even though he looked like he was. And he REALLY looked like he-“

“Like who Mari?” Steve asks before she completely goes off track.

“Sargent James Barnes.” Mari averts her gaze when the two men go ram rod still. Did she do something wrong again?

Steve takes her shoulder and gives her a small shake. “Where did you see him? Tell me exactly.”

“In those trees,” she mumbles still avoiding eye contact.

Tony opens his mouth to say something but frowns when Steve bolts in the direction Mari points. He grumbles and stands, keeping Mari perched on his hip. “Steve. Steve!” He sighs and turns to Mari who will not look at him.

She reaches up and pulls at her hair. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No.” He pulls her fingers from her hair and envelopes her hand in his. “Pops is just…this is something he needs to take care of.”

Steve shoots across the playground and into the trees. He finds an area of disturbed dirt where Mari must have gotten her foot caught. Off to the side he found some more disturbed dirt where it looked like someone hand been milling about. The soldier stood in the spot and saw that he had a clear vantage point of the bench he had been sitting at and still be hidden behind the foliage and other trees.

“Bucky?” Steve calls only to be met with silence.

He looked around himself and saw a trail leading away. Steve follows the trail through the trees and comes out the other side into an open grass area. There are people milling about either sitting on benches or in the grass or walking their dogs. He scans the area. There were some people out but the cloudy day kept a lot of people inside so Central Park was not overly crowded. Steve spots who he is looking for by chance. A hundred yards away, dressed in a thick jacket, ball cap, and dark cargo pants, Bucky glances off to his left unintentionally giving Steve a shot of his profile.

“Bucky!” Steve calls.

The man ignores him but he picks up his pace.

“Bucky wait!” As Steve breaks into a run so does Bucky. _Okay. Maybe calling out to him first wasn’t such a great idea._

The Captain kicks it into gear, picking up his pace. He gains a little ground but Bucky manages to maintain a sizable a gap. Bucky leads him on a chase through the park, using groups of people, food stands, and other obstacles to trip him up but Steve stays tight on his tail. When Steve realizes Bucky is making his way towards the city street he pushes his legs even harder. If he makes it out into the city proper Steve just might lose him. He cannot let that happen. It takes them months just to find wisps and rumors of the Winter Soldier. Who knows how long it will take to find him again if he loses him now.

As they round a corner Steve sees what he has been dreading. The edge of the park and the start of the city. Bucky cuts along the line of scrimmage in a football game as the players throw themselves at each other. They jerk to a stop at the sudden interruption and create a mob of people to be clustered in Steve’s path. Instead of dancing around Steve stops by the young man holding the football.

“Need to barrow this son.” He swipes the ball out of his stunned hands and throws it as hard as he can. Steve takes off soon after it.

The young men look at each other confused before one asks, “Did Captain America just call me son?”

The ball spirals through the air and plows square into the back of Bucky’s knee. He stumbles and rolls across the ground. He uses the momentum of falling forward to rise back to his feet. He gets half way up before he is tackled back to the ground.

“You know there was a point to having your kid give you the folder.” Bucky grunts as they wrestle.

“That you’re chicken?” Steve tries to pin him to the ground and gets an elbow to the gut. “Just talk to me Buck!”

“Everything you need to know is in that folder.” Bucky rolls Steve off him and scrambles away only to be jerked to the ground again. “God damn it Steve! Let go of me!”

“I’m not letting you run away anymore.” They roll and Steve feels the ground transition from grass to concrete.

“You have bigger things to worry about right now. Like your family. Especially your family.”

“You’re my family too Bucky!”

Bucky grunts when the curb digs into his spine as they roll into the street. “Not anymore!”

They are interrupted by a long and loud honk. Steve looks up to see a car hurtling towards them. Bucky uses the distraction to punch Steve in the jaw. The blonde goes rolling back onto the sidewalk and Bucky rolls further into the street. The car drives in between them. When Steve looks up again Bucky is gone. He shoots up and into the street, spinning in a circle. He sees no sign of his friend. Bucky is gone. Again. He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. There is a cough behind him and he turns. Three of the college students from earlier are standing on the sidewalk holding their ball and a marker.

“This probably isn’t the best time but can you sign my ball?”

Looks like it was gonna be one of those days.

  


“His name is Chameleon. He’s a Russian spy turned mercenary,” Natasha says as she walks around the table that is projecting an image of the criminal in question.

“Yeah I got that from the damn dossier.” Tony flinches when Mari grumbles and snuggles her face against his shirt. He says in a quieter tone so he does not wake the child sleeping against his chest, “Why would Barnes give us a file on this guy?”

“Probably because we’ve been looking for him. We didn’t make the connection before because our information was apparently outdated. Chameleon is a master of disguise and in recent years he has been using a device that almost puts his disguises on the level of shapeshifter. And apparently he’s upgraded said device.” Natasha pulls out one of the photos of the buckle that was in the folder. Then she taps at the table top and an image of Agent Not-an-agent is displayed in front of him. She zooms in on the man’s belt buckle. 

Tony looks between the two images and grimaces. “That son of a-“ He glances at the top of Mari’s head. “…butternut.”

“Butternut?” Natasha looks as him in disbelief.

“Steve has a no swearing rule in front of the K-I-D.”

“I know but was butternut the best you could come up with?”

“Watch it or I’m adding Russian swear words to the detector.”

“It’s not like I haven’t already taught her a few,” Natasha says in a dry voice.

Tony looks indignant and opens his mouth only to pause when he hears the door open. He spins in his chair and sees Steve walk in. There is a spot of blood on his collar and his hair and clothes are in a disarray. Tony frowns. “You done running around New York?”

Steve sighs and looks defeated. When he looks up though and sees Mari resting against Tony he looks between him and the holograms on the table. “Should she really be around for this?”

“Well believe it or not seeing her father shoot off into the trees after a mysterious stranger kind of upset her. So combine that with no sleep, the temperament of a small child, and refusing to eat her midmorning snack she was a little fussy. To put it mildly.”

Steve steps closer and runs his fingers through her hair. “I’m sorry.” He turns to Natasha. “I lost Bucky near Columbus Circle. Think you can use security cameras to find where he went?”

“Sure. I have all the spare time in the world,” says Natasha as she types something onto the table’s projected keyboard.

He chuckles. “Thanks.” He looks at the holograms displayed in front of Tony. “I take it we’ve figured out who our intruder is.”

“Technically Barnes did. But it still doesn’t really answer as to who. He’s a mercenary so anyone could have hired him,” says Tony.

“Yes but I’m sure he’d be more than happy to tell us when we pick him up,” says Natasha. “We’re running scans on security footage looking for his unique buckle. It shouldn’t take too long if he’s still in New York.”

Steve nods. “Good. In the meantime, since we have a name now, throw out some of your espionage lines. Sees if anyone knows who he’s been talking to. Tony when you get a chance, maybe send out some of the Iron Legion to see if they can maybe find Buck from the skies. I have a feeling he’s gonna be sticking close.” He turns to leave.

“Well now, where are you going?” Tony sits up and curses under his breath when Mari jerks awake.

“Wha…” She rubs at her eyes and whines.

“I’m sorry baby girl. I didn’t mean to wake you.” Tony murmurs into her hair, placing a kiss there.

Steve snorts and tries to restrain his chuckle when he sees that the metal facets of Tony’s reactor have left red patterns on the side of her face.

She turns at the sound. Her grumpy expression turns to a smile when she sees him. “Papa! You’re back. You missed snack time.” She pouts.

“I know Kiddo, I’m sorry.” Steve leans over and takes her from his husband.

Tony stands and his back pops from sitting so still for so long.

She reaches up and tugs at her hair, her gaze shifting to over his shoulder. “You said you’d show me how to make edible crafts out of apple slices.”

“Again, I’m sorry but there’s somebody I need to find.”

She frets at her hair a little harder. “So you’re not mad at me?”

“Why would I be mad at you?”

“I wasn’t supposed to talk to that man was I? You and Daddy got upset when I told you I saw him.”

“No, no Kiddo. Uncle Bucky is a good friend of Papa’s.”

“But you should still come find us if you see him again.” Tony shoots Steve a disapproving look.

Steve shoots Tony one of his own disapproving looks. Did he really think Buck was a danger to any of them anymore? Especially Mari? He kisses both of Mari’s cheeks and hands her back to his husband. “I have to go now but I promise I’ll try and be back to read you a bed time story.” He steps away and his heart breaks when she spins and reaches out for him with tear filled eyes.

“No! You said you weren’t mad at me!” Her shoulders start to shake and she makes grabbing motions at him. 

He cannot stop himself from reaching out and squeezing one of her hands. “I’m not but this is important. I’ll be back. I promise.”

“No!” She squeezes his thumb and wraps her other hand around his wrist. “We haven’t had snacks! We can still do apple crafts!”

“I’m sorry Kiddo. Papa has gotta go find his friend. He needs me.” Steve tears himself away and steals himself against the screaming wails behind him to go get his bike.

Tony presses her face in the juncture between his neck and shoulder, glaring a hole into Steve’s retreating form until he is out of sight.

“I’m sure he’s just going to check some of their old spots.” Natasha says to Tony over Mari’s crying. “That shouldn’t take him too long.”

“It took him two hours to show up after he lost him at Central Park. Captain America doesn’t give up until he crashes into the ocean.” He goes to the elevator that connects the Avenger’s tactical room to his lab, rubbing Mari’s back in soothing circles.

“Do you want me to take care of the Iron Legion?”

“I don’t care. I have something important to do.” Tony says in a voice that resembles Steve’s no nonsense Captain voice. 

Natasha sighs as she watches the doors close. “Nothing is ever easy with those two.” She looks at the read outs in front of her and stares at the photo they have listed for the Winter Soldier. _But I guess it wasn’t easy for us either..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please help support me on [**Ko-fi**](https://ko-fi.com/Z8Z5DNDF) so I can have more time for you darlings!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG talk about the writer's block from hell. I kind of wrote myself into a hole and didn't know how to get out. Finally worked it out though and I have a more concrete plan now. Who knew flying by the seat of your pants wasn't always the best idea?  
> Anyway here's an extra long update to make up for lost time.

His limbs feel like they were weighed down by led. He can’t move. He’s encased in darkness. Is he in the suit?

“Jarvis? Jarvis!?!” Tony tries to move his limbs but they remain steadfast. Why did he make the suit so goddamn heavy? He grunts as he fights against the pressure.

“Tony? Tony, where are you?” Tony hears Steve’s muffled voice.

“Steve?” Tony struggles harder against the pressure.

“Tony, I’m com-“ Steve’s voice is then cut off by a loud bang.

Tony stops moving and strains to listen. “…Steve? STEVE!?!”

He hears heavy footsteps approaching him and then he is being gripped by his chest plate and dragged across the uneven terrain. He grunts when he is dumped on the ground. There is a crunching sound and five points of light pierce through the darkness over his face. With the sound of metal tearing he blinks against the flood of light. As the world comes into focus around him he realizes he is indeed in his suit and the face plate has been ripped off. The sound of shuffling feet draws his attention above him. A hulking figure with wide shoulders is looming over him. At first he thinks it is Steve but his husband’s hair was blonde and this man’s hair was dark and long and shaggy. Then he sees the face, or some of it. The man is wearing dark circle googles and over the lower half of his face and part of his neck is a black mask. Tony gulps and glances around him to try and figure out where he is. That was when he sees he is not alone on the ground. Steve is lying next to him, eyes unseeing and a hole in his forehead.

Tony chokes on a sob and tries to reach out to him but he still cannot move his limbs. Tears stream down his face. The click of a rifle being cocked draws his gaze back up. The figure has a rifle pointed at his head. He cannot take his eyes off the barrel. Tony knew he would not die of old age. That just was not in the cards for people like him. He knew his final moments would be spent, laid out on the battle field, holding tight to the memory of Steve’s smiling face. There is a niggling at the back of his skull though. He is forgetting something. He closes his eyes and tries to remember what it might be.

“Daddy?”

His eyes shoot open.

Mari.

He was forgetting Mari.

But why was she here? Why was his daughter on a battlefield?

“Daddy?”

The figure standing over him looks up. Then with a slow movement the rifle rises.

Tony shouts a moment before the rifle’s muzzle flashes.

“Daddy?”

Tony’s body gives a violent jerk and he falls out of his chair and onto the hard floor of his lab. He groans and rolls onto his back. He runs his hand over his face, grimacing at the feel of being drenched in sweat.

“Are you okay?” a small voice whispers.

Tony looks up and while this figure also has a mess of brown hair, it is much closer to the ground and wears large, familiar glasses.

“Yeah…” He sit ups and looks over at the clock on the microwave in the lab’s kitchenette. In glowing green is 11:30. He takes off his t-shirt and wipes the layer of sweat from his face and body. “What are you doing up so late Kiddo? I put you to bed hours ago.”

“Papa’s not home yet.”

Tony pauses. When he looks over Mari is in her pajamas clutching a book to her chest. He sighs. It was an original copy of Winnie-the-Pooh that Tony had gotten for Steve as an anniversary present. Steve’s mother used to read it to him when he was a child. Mostly to distract him from whatever aliment had restricted him to bedrest. He’d tell Tony, just sitting reading a book with his Mom was some of his fondest memories. He had wanted to do the same with Mari so they had been reading the book before bed and during her dialysis sessions.

When Tony tucked Mari into bed that night she had not wanted to read it, insisting they wait for Steve.

“Have you been awake this whole time?” Tony asks in a soft voice.

“We’re on the last story. Papa was excited. He said it was one of his favorites…” Mari does not look at him but that was normal. They had found she had a thing about eye contact. She was getting better though as she got more comfortable. The problem was her chewing on her lower lip.

“Papa will read it to you when he gets back.” He stands, pulling Mari with him. He walks them out of his lab and back towards her room. “Lets get you back to bed. And to SLEEP.”

“But Papa said we’d read it tonight.”

“I know but Pops is really worried for his friend. He’ll be back soon.”

“When?”

“I don’t know. I do know, that you can’t go another night without sleep though.” He slips into Mari’s room and tucks her under the covers. He takes the book and puts it and her glasses onto the bedside table. “Now, to prevent any more trouble,” Tony sits on the bed next to her and leans back against the head board. “I’m going to sit right here until I hear little snores.”

Mari makes obnoxious snoring noises.

He taps her nose. “Real snores you smartass.”

The swear tone goes off.

“Oops. You heard smart mouth.”

She snickers and snuggles into his side. “Are you okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“It seemed like you were having a pretty bad nightmare.”

“It’s okay. It was just a nightmare. You scared them all away though.”

She looks up at him hopeful. “I did?”

“You did. Now sleep. Before I do something drastic.”

“Like whaaaat?” Mari pulls the covers a little higher in excitement.

“Liiiiiiiiiike THIS!” He rolls the covers around her like a burrito and snuggles down around her, half laying on her, and blows raspberries into her neck.

She squeals in delight and wriggles against his hold.

“You know, this bed is actually pretty comfy. I think I might just sleep here tonight.” He presses his face against hers and makes his own obnoxious snoring noises. She starts squealing and kicks against his thighs when he starts drooling on her.

“Yucky! Yucky! Yucky boy!”

He grunts when a wild kick lands just left of his groin. “Okay, okay. Truce.” He pulls the edge of the cover up to wipe away the drool and rearranges them into a more comfortable position. She curls into him and rests her face against his arc reactor. He smiles and runs his hand through her hair. “I love you Kiddo. And so does Papa. He just gets tunnel vision sometimes. He’ll make it up to you tomorrow.”

“It’s okay. It’s not that big of deal. We can read it anytime.” She yawns and closes her eyes.

Tony runs his fingers through her hair and tries not to think about the fact that he used to say the same thing about his father.

 

* * *

 

Steve walks into the apartment and tosses his motorcycle helmet onto the couch. He rubs at his neck, trying to relieve the tension as he makes his way to the bedroom. He stops short when he sees a blue glow coming from Mari’s room. When he ducks his head in, he sees the glow is coming from the reactor keeping his husband alive. Steve tiptoes in and smiles at the sight of Tony curled around Mari. He sits on the edge and watches them. Steve reaches out and runs a hand down an olive arm.

Tony groans and his face twists into a pained grimace. The arm wrapped around Mari tightens. Steve grips his shoulder and gives it a shake.

“Tony. Tony wake up. Tony you’re dreaming,” Steve whispers into his ear.

Tony twitches and breaks out into a sweat. “N-no.”

“Tony, wake up. Tony.” Steve gives him a harsh shake and Tony’s eyes snap open.

His chest heaves with harsh breathing. Steve rubs along his husband’s arm while his eyes dart around the room. Once his gaze focuses and his breathing slows, he glances over his shoulder to Steve. Despite the frown he shoots him, Steve can feel some of the tension ease in his husband’s shoulder.

Tony groans. “What time is it?”

“Three in the morning.”

“I take it since you’re here you didn’t find him.”

Steve sighs and retracts his hand. “No. We didn’t find him. Got some intel on Chameleon though.”

Tony sits up. “Lets take this out of here.”

Steve stands to give him space while Tony tucks the comforter more around Mari’s shoulders. He leans down to place a kiss on her head before standing from the bed as well. Steve leans in to kiss his husband’s cheek and wrap an arm around his waist only for Tony to keep walking out the door and to their bedroom. He sighs and braces himself for the argument waiting ahead.

When he comes into the room Tony is in the adjoining bathroom splashing cool water over his face. He wets a wash cloth and tries to clean some of the sweat from the back of his neck. Steve leans against the door frame, eyeing his flushed cheeks.

“You feeling okay?”

Tony tosses the cloth down and turns off the water. He leans on his hands against the counter glaring at his reflection. “What did you find on Chameleon?”

Business it is then. “Clint did some digging and found that he came into the country through an airfield owned by a shell company associated with the Maggia. It’s also only a few miles from the coordinates we got from your Gorgon files.”

“How far is a few?”

“Five.”

“So I guess we know who hired him. We know why?”

“No. Clint and Sam did another sweep around the coordinates we got, still just abandoned warehouses.”

Tony turns and leans back against the counter. He crosses his arms across his chest. “…Why didn’t I hear this from Romanoff or Barton earlier? I’ve been at the tower all day. And where were you? We get a lead on the dirt bag that nearly blew up our daughter and you’re not on it like stripes on that stupid shield?”

Steve flinches at his harsh tone. “Is that what this is about? The fact I’ve been out looking for Bucky. You don’t have to be jealous pip-“

“Wow, Steve. Glad to hear how petty you think I am.” Tony shoves past him and into the bedroom. He tugs off his under shirt with an angry jerk.

“That’s not what I meant. pip please-“

Tony spins on him. “You told Mari you’d read to her tonight.”

This stops Steve up short. “I-…Tony, we finally got a trail on Bucky after months of nothing. Mari is going to understand if I miss one bedtime story. Hell, with our lives it’s probably going to happen a lot more over the years.”

“Not if we don’t let it. Have Romanoff or Barton or Wilson or fucking Pym look. He’s a fucking Avenger now, for some reason, I’m sure he has little ant buddies all over the city that could dig up some dirt. Isn’t the whole point about this team thing ‘sharing the burden’?”

“Oh so you do listen to me after we’re patching you together from going off halfcocked.” Steve grimaces as the words leave his mouth. Now was not the time to rehash that argument. They had it often enough and Tony’s sharp glare confirms his misstep. Steve speaks in a softer tone. “I know you’re terrified about becoming your father-“ He stutters to a stop when he gets a face full of cloth.

“STOP MAKING THIS ABOUT ME!” Tony shouts. “THIS IS ABOUT YOUR ACTIONS! NOT MINE!”

Steve tosses the tank into the laundry basket. “I know I wasn’t exactly Dad of the year today. I upset Mari when I left. I upset you when I didn’t come back. I’m sorry but he’s my friend.”

“A friend that has tried to kill you! On multiple occasions!”

“That wasn’t him and you know it! They brainwashed him and used him like a weapon. He wasn’t himself.”

“And who’s to say that he suddenly won’t be himself again but you won’t notice because you’re too busy trying to save him.”

“I’m just as capable of taking care of myself as you are.”

“Oh that fills me with so much confidence.” He turns away and goes to his dresser to dig through a drawer. “Don’t know if you remember this but last time you met he shot you.” He jerks out a pair of sweats. “Three times. In the gut. Then he beat the shit out of you.” He shoves his pants down and jerks his legs into the cotton sweats.

“And then he saved me from drowning. After I broke his arm. He’s not under HYDRA’s grip anymore.”

“You keep saying that like it’s supposed to make me trust him!” Steve opens his mouth only for Tony to talk over him. “I get it. I really do. They tortured him. Twisted him into something else. I get it. Probably more than you. That’s why I don’t blame him for what he did but that doesn’t mean I still don’t fear him doing it. To you he’s your best friend. To me he’s the man who killed my parents and nearly killed my at-the-time boyfriend. I…I’m…” Tony’s mouth opens and closes as he tries to get out the words he wants to say but they get strangled in his throat. He takes a deep breath and collapses onto the end of the bed. He rubs at his reactor, looking away from his husband. His breathing picks up into harsh stutters.

Steve’s shoulders slump. How could he not have seen this? He had been running around all day looking for the man that had inadvertently taken so much from Tony and his husband had been worrying himself into a fit about whether it would be Bucky or the Winter Soldier he found. That maybe this was the one time he didn’t come home. He walks over and pulls Tony up by his arms.

“I’m done…talking Steve...” Tony grumbles out between breaths as Steve pulls him against his chest.

Steve slides an arm around his waist and lifts his left hand to entwine their fingers. “Then don’t talk. Just breathe.” He exaggerates his breathing so the rise and fall of his chest is easy for Tony to follow before he kisses where the vibranium band sits proudly on his husband’s finger. He then starts to move his hips in a slow sway. “And be wooed by my masculine wiles.” He punctuates his statement with a sensual roll against the inventor’s body and smirks. Tony does not respond but his breathing slows into a regular pace. Steve does not take his gaze off Tony’s eyes when he says, “Jarvis, put on my playlist. Track seventeen please.” He increases his swaying until they start to circle as soft music begins to play.

“No. Jarvis scratch that.” Tony half-heartedly tries to pull out of the dance.

“Jarvis belay that order.” Steve leans in and runs his lips along Tony’s jaw.

“Jarvis-“ Tony is cut off when Steve smothers him with his lips.

They come to a standstill as the soldier devours his mouth until he they are both gasping for breath. When he pulls away he presses his face into Tony’s neck. He clutches to Tony’s hand a little harder.

“I’m so sorry pip. I really am. I just ran off and I didn’t even call to tell you I was alright.”

“And you broke your promise to Mari.”

“And I broke my promise to Mari.” Steve lifts his head to look at him, trying to soften his gaze as much as he can and pulls Tony back into the dance. “I was being selfish. I’m sorry. So, so sorry. Can you forgive me?”

Tony scrunches his face up in thought for a moment before twisting into a wicked smirk. “Depends. After running around New York all day, you still have enough energy to pound me into the mattress?” He pushes his hips forward so Steve can feel his stiffening cock.

Steve smiles as a blush washes across his cheeks. He leans down to brush their noses together. “I spent most of it on my bike so in fact, I think I have enough energy to pound you in and then have you return to the favour.~” Tony groans and bites at Steve’s bottom lip. “As much as I love seeing that ass split open I think I only have enough energy in me for one pounding. I actually did work today unlike some people.”

Steve slides his hands down Tony’s body to grip the meat of his ass. Then with a swift jerk he lifts him up so the inventor’s legs are forced to wrap around him. “Oh? That’s a first. I think becoming a Daddy is good influence on you.” He walks them towards the bed.

“Ugh. Please don’t use that word right now. Having a tiny human call me that has ruined all sexual connotation it once held.”

“Maybe I can find a better use for my mouth if I think real hard.” He tosses Tony onto the bed and climbs over him. He places light kisses down his olive chest.

“Think harder,” Tony hisses as he shoves Steve’s head further down his body.

“As you wish Doll,” Steve speaks against Tony’s stomach making the muscles quiver. He moves down and mouths at the outline of Tony’s half erect cock. As Tony groans Steve reaches up to massage his husband’s balls causing him to arch up into the warm wet mouth.

Tony growls and bucks his hips. “Take my damn clothes off already. And yours too while you’re at it soldier boy.”

“Yes sir.” Steve sits up and slides Tony’s sweats and underwear off in one pull. He flings off his jacket and starts to take off his shirt only for it to get tangled around his head and arms when he feels a pressure against his crotch. Tony rubs the heel of his foot along the zipper of Steve’s jeans. He applies a little more pressure when Steve pauses. “Something wrong Soldier Boy?”

“N-no,” Steve moans as his hips stutter.

“Then get that ass moving.”

There’s a loud rip and Steve’s shirt falls to the wayside. Tony wonders if his husband realizes he has just ripped one of his favourite shirts in two. He is brought back to the situation when the button of Steve’s jeans pops off and bounces off the back of his thigh. He yelps in surprise but his husband’s hand is soon there to ease the sting.

“Sorry pip. “ He massages the flesh of Tony’s thigh as he shimmies out of his jeans and boxers. “Got a little excited.”

“That’s okay. It’s been a while since you’ve spanked me.”

Steve groans. “It’s been a while since I’ve done anything to you.” He lifts Tony’s leg and wraps it around his hip as he drapes himself over the smaller man. He presses desperate kisses to Tony’s mouth as he grinds and gyrates their hips together, smearing pre-cum along both their stomachs. The warm slide causes pleasure to shoot up and down their spines and their kissing soon turns to gasping.

“Then maybe skip the foreplay and fuck me already.” Tony lifts his hips so Steve’s cock slips along the cleft of his ass. He runs his hands along Steve’s spine, causing a shiver to jolt through the soldier. When he reaches the tight muscles of his ass he pulls him forward so even more delicious pressure is applied.

“Some things still need to come first.” Steve reaches a hand over to the night stand drawer and digs around.

“If you’re not careful that’s gonna be me.”

Steve frowns and pulls away from their messy kisses when his hand fails to find the tube he’s looking for. He leans over to look in the drawer. “Where there hell is-…Oh you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“What?” Tony asks between heavy breaths.

Steve pulls out a slip of paper and shows it to him. In familiar chicken scratch is a note reading, “Had a bonergency. IOU Barton.”

Tony lets out a growl very different from his aroused one from earlier.

Steve crumples the note in his hand and tosses it in the drawer. “Maybe we have some olive oil in the kitchen. Or we can enjoy some old fashioned frottage.” Steve gives a slow roll of his hips.

“Screw that!” Tony swings up and presses his husband down into the mattress. He sticks two fingers in his mouth and coats them in saliva before pressing them at his hole.

“I can be real quick at getting the oil pip.” Steve tweaks at one of Tony’s nipples making the inventor arch into the touch with one hand. The other goes to his aching hard on as he smears pre cum over it.

“No. I want this now,” he grunts out as he prepares himself with rough thrusts. “And I want it hard. You got it soldier boy?” It takes a while but once Tony is able to thrust four fingers in with minimal resistance he jerks them out and swats Steve’s hand away from his erection. As soon as Steve’s hand is out of the way he is impaling himself on his husband’s eager and twitching cock.

“Yeeeeeessss,” Steve hisses as the tight heat envelopes him.

Tony winces and only gets about half way down before the burn becomes too much. He lifts himself up and down and twists his hips. Slowly he works himself further and further down Steve’s cock.

Steve snakes a hand between them and presses at Tony’s perineum. With his other hand he pulls and pinches at a nipple. The inventor groans and finds himself sinking further down as he almost melts. He sighs in relief when he slips down that last inch, their hips meeting. Steve rubs soothing circles into his soft flanks as he adjusts.

“Take your time pip. I’m right here. Always will be. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Damn right you’re not.” Tony clenches causing Steve to tighten his grip. “Now what was that about pounding I heard earlier?” He circles his hips.

Steve lets out a low and long moan. “That was when we thought we had lube.”

“So I guess I’ll be doing the heavy lifting like usual hm?” Tony lifts his hips up and pushes back down in a swift slide. “Oh yeah, that’s where it’s at.”

Tony moves up and down the thick length in gradual quickening movements. Steve lays back and lets him take control but makes sure to grind against him every time their flesh slaps together. Soon Tony is hunched forward and moaning into his husband’s eager mouth, bouncing up and down. Bursts of color flash behind his eyelids every time Steve’s dick slams into his prostate. Steve wraps his arms around him to hold him close. Then Tony is groaning and jerking against him as hot cum spirts between them. As the inventor goes limp Steve rolls them and starts pistonning into the pliant body below him, watching Tony’s blissed out face for any discomfort. When Tony sneaks a hand around and pops a finger past Steve’s puckered hole, he starts a deep grind, pressing Tony into the mattress. As a shiver runs down his spine and settles at the base, Steve has just enough time to bury his face in the mattress beside Tony’s head to shout his release. He shivers and jerks as he comes down from his high.

“Anyone ever tell you you’re a pretty good lay?” Tony mumbles as he cards his fingers through blonde locks.

“My husband tends to be fairly satisfied with my performances.” He turns his head to place soft kisses to the tops of Tony’s cheeks and the bridge of his nose.

Tony chuckles. “Lucky man.”

“I’m actually the lucky one.” Steve slowly removes himself and kisses the corner of Tony’s mouth when he winces. He then leans over and swipes his shirt from off the ground. He is about to swipe it over Tony’s stomach when he gets a look at the state it is already in. “Shit. I liked this shirt.”

“I’ll buy you twenty more.” Tony yawns as he runs his hand along Steve’s jaw.

“That won’t be necessary pip.” Steve kisses him again before doing a quick cleanup of them both.

They tangle their limbs together under the sheets as they fall asleep. It only feels like he’s just drifted off when Steve’s eyes are blinking open. He looks over at the clock on the bedside table. There were still a couple hours left before he had to get up. A groan and a jerk against his back lets him know what woke him up. He rolls over and sees Tony clutching to a pillow. Steve wraps an arm around him and pulls him close. Tony is warm to the touch and whimpers.

“Tony, wake up.” Steve whispers into his ear. “It’s okay. You’re home. You’re safe. Tony. Tony!”

Tony jerks awake with a gasp. He grips at Steve’s arm as his husband whispers assurances in his ear. When his quick breaths even out, Steve loosens his arm.

“You’ve been having a lot of nightmares lately,” says Steve. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah just…need to cut back on the sugar I guess.”

“Caffeine is more often the culprit. Maybe you should start with that.”

“Watch your mouth. Next time I’m cleaning it out with soap.” Tony reaches up to entwine their fingers together as he closes his eyes again.

“That’s a bit old school for you.”

“I can have Dum-e do it. That new agey enough for you?”

Steve lets out a huff of a chuckle against the back of his head. “Since we’re up you want to join me in a quick morning work out?”

Tony blinks an eye open to glance over his shoulder. “You uh…planning on doing some abdominal crunches?” He rocks his hips back only to wince at the pain that shoots up his spine. “Shit.”

“I was talking about an actual morning workout but I appreciate the offer.” He kisses along the column of his neck. “Maybe it’ll be best if you stay in bed. I’ll get you an ice pack before I start up.” He pulls himself from the bed with a loving pat to Tony’s sore rear end.

Tony pulls the comforter over his head. “Why don’t you sleep in for once? Come to the dark side.”

“I’m already up.” Steve stretches his arms above his head and goes to the closet to put on some comfortable clothes. On his way out the door he tosses their discarded clothes into the hamper, except Steve’s ripped tee which ends up in the waste basket. Steve came back in soon after with a cold compress and lays it along his husband’s tail bone. Tony leans up for a kiss and Steve obliges before leaving.

Tony remains in bed, listening to the sounds in the apartment. Instead of going back to sleep he dozes in order to avoid the nightmares he knows are waiting for him. Time slips by with him teetering on the edge of consciousness when he hears Thor’s boisterous laugh. Guess it was breakfast time. He stretches to pop his back and more pain shoots up from his ass, but not as severe as before. He settles back down into the mattress and begins planning how he is going to talk Steve into breakfast in bed. When the door creaks open he blinks an eye open. No one walks through but Tony can hear shuffling. He looks over the edge of bed to see a small form under one of Mari’s quilts crawling towards him. Once the small form reaches the side of the bed a small hand pulls open one of the drawers set into the bed’s frame and empties the contents out onto the floor.

“Um…Kiddo…what are you doing?” Tony asks in a groggy voice.

“You never saw me.” She then crawls into the drawer and closes it as best she can from the inside. A bit of her quilt gets caught and Tony watches it get tugged in.

It disappears into the drawer as Steve comes in with some of Mari’s clothes draped over his shoulder. “Pip did Mari come in here?”

Tony points to the drawer that is ajar by half an inch.

Steve arches an eyebrow and kneels down to open the drawer. He stares at her curled up form hiding under her quilt. “…What are you doing in there?”

Mari whines and curls into a tighter ball.

“Come on. Time to get up.” He reaches in to pull her out only for her to remain in a tight ball, squeezing her eyes shut. He lifts her up anyway and chuckles at the sight of her curled into a ball with the quilt pulled tightly around her thinking she resembles more of a wadded up blanket than a cranky toddler. He gives her a little shake. “Come on.”

“No. It’s too early.”

Tony tries to stifle his laugh as Steve says, “I already let you sleep in for an extra hour. Time for breakfast and your medicine.”

“Noooooooo.”

“Maybe next time leave out the meds and add the promise of more sugar.” Tony says.

“Or just let her sleeeeeeeeeeep.” Mari loosens up and tries to reach for the drawer again.

Steve tosses her over his shoulder and kneels on the bed to place a kiss to Tony’s head. “Feeling any better?”

“A little. Give me twenty.” He lays back down and stretches out. He tugs on Mari’s foot. “You go easy on your old man Kiddo.”

“But I’m tiiiiiiirrrrrrrreeed.” When Steve turns to walk back out the door, Tony can see her lower lip stuck out in a pout.

He smirks and closes his eyes, giving her a little wave. “I feel your pain I really do.” He yawns and chuckles as he hears her mournful groan disappear down the hall.

He was just going to close his eyes to get a few extra minutes of sleep. Just a couple and then he’d be ready for the day. Next he knew though he was staring at that god forsaken portal. He had seen this particular view enough times to know that he was dreaming but seeing it slowly close in front of him still had his heart pounding against his chest. He spins around trying to locate his suit on the desolate rock but it was nowhere in sight. His head snaps back up to the portal in time to see it shut with a pop. His heart feels like it is about to burst as he tears his eyes away and back to the landscape. Well, at least his team mates were not littering the ground this time.

The rock tilted at a sudden haphazard angle. Tony falls to the ground and clings to a jutting rock. Off to his left a leviathan scrapes against the side, pushing the floating island off its axis. He clings for dear life as it floats past, the flick of its tail sending one last violent rock through the island. The leviathan glides through taking no heed of him. As the island steadies, he slowly eases his grip on the stone. Just as he starts to relax something clamps down on his shoulder. He yells and looks up into the face of a Chitauri soldier. Adrenalin races through and he swings at the alien. It catches his fist and roars. Tony kicks out his legs and squeezes his eyes tight as he jerks against the iron grip it has on him.

“Tony!”

He kicks out and manages to land a kick in its side. The alien grunts but does not let up.

“Tony! It’s me! Steve!”

Tony locks up when the words filter through his panic. Last he checked, Chitauri did not speak. At least not in a language he understood. He pries open his eyes and looks around him. The space scape is gone and the alien has vanished, leaving his husband in its place holding his forearms. Steve is watching him with a concerned look. He looks around the room again and tries to pull air through his lungs. The air feels stagnate and his heart feels like it’s slamming against his rib cage.

“I-I’m sorry.” He tries to sit up but his limbs feel disconnected from his brain. “Did I- Did I-“

“You didn’t hurt me.” Steve helps him sit up and lays him against the headboard. He takes Tony’s hand and holds it over his own heartbeat, taking deep slow breaths. “Just follow me. Breathe. You’re home, you’re safe. It’s just us. You’re safe.”

The hammering in his chest slows as he focuses on his husband’s voice. Steve rubs small circles with his thumb over the back of Tony’s hand watching him. When he feels the tightness in his chest ease he tangles his fingers in Steve’s shirt.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be…do you want to talk about it?”

Tony takes back his hand and throws his legs over the edge of the bed. “No.” He runs his hand through his hair a few times. As he props himself against his knees he catches sight of something set on the bed side table. He turns and sees a sandwich with a mug of coffee next to it. He smiles, “You let me sleep in till lunch?”

“I thought you could use the rest luv.” He trails his fingers down Tony’s arm.

“Thanks. Even if I don’t feel very rested.” Tony reaches over to take the mug. He gulps it down only to choke and cough the gritty abomination back up into the cup. He looks at Steve horrified. “What did you do to my coffee!?!”

The blonde was biting back his laughter. “Mari helped me make your lunch. I guess she snuck in a little something when I wasn’t looking. That bad?”

“You remember when we were first going out and you asked if there was a coffee too black for me and I said I hadn’t found one yet?” Tony takes a small sip trying to get at least a little of a caffeine hit from it as Steve nods in reply. Tony grimaces. “I think I found it.”

“I’m sorry pip.” He kisses Tony’s cheek. He takes the mug and stands. “I’ll toss this.”

Tony takes the mug back. “Just one more hit.” He inhales half the concoction in one long pull. “Ugh.” He hands the mug back as a shiver runs down his spine.

Steve takes the mug. “You have a problem.”

“Yeah I know. I’ve got dark roast running through my veins.” Tony reaches over and opens his mouth to take a bite of the sandwich. He pauses and decides to check it. It had layers of ham and Swiss with lettuce. He smiles at the remnant of a happy face drawn on it with chipotle sauce. Deciding it was somewhat safe, he takes an experimental bite. No funny flavours. He eats half the sandwich in a few large bites before setting it down and moving to the bathroom. On the way to the shower he passes Steve who gives his ass a pinch. Tony gives him a wink before turning on the water. “So what’s on the schedule today?”

“We’re on call for the day. I was going to help Nat with looking for Chameleon but I can stay here if there’s something you’d rather do...” Steve sets the mug aside and leans against the counter.

Tony goes still. He knows that tone. He looks over his shoulder at him suspicious. “Is there something I’d rather do?” “Well I mean, it’s a nice day out maybe we could…invite Mari’s aunt and uncle over for coffee…”

Tony frowns and steps into the shower. “You know, you’re starting to be a metaphorical as well as physical pain in my ass.”

“It’s only going to get more awkward the longer we wait.”

“I know! But-JEEZ!” He angrily squeezes some shampoo into his palm before lathering it into hair. “Can’t we just spend one frickin’ day where we aren’t worried about possible custody battles, or strange shape shifters, or 1940s sharp shooters. Just one day where we don’t have to worry about that shit, where we can just be a normal family. I want to get a few good memories in before we fuck her over completely with our superhero drama.”

“Why do I feel like we keep having the same conversation over and over?”

“Because you keep using the same conversation starters?” He finishes with his hair and moves to the body wash.

Steve sighs. “Okay. How about this: Mari wants to build a rocket. Not a bottle rocket, a real rocket. I checked.”

Tony snorts and peeks his head over the door to the shower. “Why?”

“I asked her that. She said and I quote, ‘We have the technology’.”

Tony goes back to washing the suds off his body with a smirk. “Pretty sound reasoning if you ask me.”

“We’re not letting her make a rocket.”

“What about an Ironlass suit?” Tony shuts off the water and jumps when the shower door swings open.

Steve wraps him in a towel and pulls him against him. “How about we get her stable on the ground before we launch her into the air.”

“Aye, aye Captain.” Tony raises up on his toes and captures his lips.

Steve’s arms tighten around him. When Tony’s tongue slides along the seam of his mouth he opens up and lets his tongue slip in along his. Steve had not been allowed a lot of normal moments in his life, and neither had Tony. But they were still afforded little ones like this. Short moments where they could just bask in touches and kisses. Forget about their chaotic life for a couple minutes.

A thunk against the bedroom door makes them pause.

“Jarvis let me in! I have more Wake Up Juice for Daddy!” they hear a muffled voice say.

“I’m sorry Miss. You don’t have the required security clearance right now.” Jarvis answers.

“As long as I can reach the keyboard I always have security clearance,” she replies in a petulant tone as it fades down the hall.

Steve leans forward into Tony’s shaking shoulder to stifle his laugh.

“Sir, I know you are busy but perhaps you have a spare moment to stop her?”

Tony bursts out laughing at the slight panic in the AI’s voice. “Sure. Just let me get some pants on buddy.”

Nowadays though, not all the chaos was unwanted.

 

* * *

 

Black Widow rolls up to the warehouse and hides her bike behind some crates. She activates her comm and says, “I’ve made it to the coordinates.”

“Great. You mind picking me up a smoothie on your way back when you find nothing?” Hawkeye asks.

“It’s a defeatist attitude like that, that prevents you from getting laid.” She walks down between the warehouses letting her sharp eyes roam over the grungy walls.

“Naw I’m pretty sure that’s due to the attention span and bird puns. Sam and I already combed the place Nat. Even you have looked over the area once already. If they WERE there they aren’t anymore.”

“There are too many bread crumbs that lead to this district and we have nowhere else to look. I’m not leaving until I find something.”’

“Okay. Suit yourself. I’ll keep an eye on your signal.”

“Don’t put yourself out.” She continues down the road between the buildings. She wanders as her sharp eyes scan over her surroundings. All the while Clint babbles in her ear.

“Say, now that the squirt is around do you think Stark is going to go even more over the top than he usually does for holidays?”

“Is the sky blue?”

“Oh-ho YEAH!” Nat winces as the comm crackles in her ear. “I can’t wait till Christmas!”

“Summer has barely even started.”

“Yeah but you remember last year!?! That was one wild party and you know there is gonna be a mountain of cool ass toys this year! This is gonna be unlike any Christmas she’s ever had!”

“Considering she’s never had one before I can guarantee it.” She slows her pace as she comes across a homeless man. She stops a block down from him.

“Don’t say that, her back story is depressing enough. What kid doesn’t have Christmas anyway?”

“A Jewish one Clint,” she hisses at him. Her eyes narrow as she watches the man nurse a cheap paper coffee cup and huddle against a box, out of the strong ocean wind. Her nose twitches as the smell is blown her way.

“Oh…they still give out presents at Chanukah right?”

Nat ignores him and strolls up to the homeless man, pulling her leather jacket closer around her. She stops a few paces away and hunches in on herself. “Excuse me, my boyfriend works with one of the shipping companies here but I think I got a little turned around and well…can you point me in the direction of the incoming ships?”

The man looks out from under his cadet cap and scans his eyes up and down her. He then gives a grunt and points towards the ocean.

“Thank you.” She reaches into her pocket and pulls out some bills. She holds them out and claps his hand with her own when he reaches out. “God bless.” She nods and walks in the direction he pointed.

“You want to tell me why you bugged a homeless dude?” Clint asks.

“How many homeless dudes do you know that can afford blue bourbon coffee?”

“No idea. But maybe you can ask his friends. I just overheard him call in a team to intercept you. Switching to satellite. First sucker is coming in on your three o’clock. Need me to come in?”

“No.” She unclips the baton from her belt and snaps it out. “I’ve got this.” As she comes around a corner she swings the baton out hitting the unsuspecting guard in the face.

When he rears back she knocks the gun from his grasp and connects the junction of his neck with the end of the baton, flipping the electric shock on. He spasms and falls to the ground as another guard rounds the corner in the alleyway behind her. She dives behind a dumpster as he fires at her. While bullets impacted into the metal and trash, she draws her own gun.

“You sure you don’t need some help? Stark has been working on a little toy for Falcon and somebody might have found the joy stick.”

She leans around her cover and fires a shot off. The bullet hits a light fixture causing it to crash down onto her assailant. The man stumbles out from his cover and she fires two more shots. The man falls and does not get back up. “I’m good. Thanks.”

“Awwww. Oh by the way, your hobo friend is coming back up behind you.”

She puts her gun back in its holster. Then she leans against the wall. As the hobo comes around the corner with his gun drawn, she grips his arm and flips him onto the ground. With a twist his wrist cracks causing the gun to fall from his grip and she kneels onto his throat.

“Fancy meeting you here. Mind helping me out again?”

A few minutes later the now severely beaten man is limping along a dock with Natasha following behind him. He stops in front of a concrete dock.

She looks around. “And?”

“And we agreed that I’d bring you here. Didn’t say shit about getting you in.” He yells when she jams a widow bite into an open wound. “FUCKING HELL!!!”

“Get me in and this all stops.” She jabs him again.

“Suck my dick.”

“Not very creative is he?” Clint says over the comm.

Natasha grabs the man’s arm and twists. “Look, I have things to do. So start spilling your guts or I will spill them for you.”

“Go ahead.”

Natasha adds more torque and his arm is about to snap when the dock begins to tremble. She looks over and sees a chunk of it raise up. As it goes higher she sees that the concrete only goes six inches deep and rest is the top of a lift of some sort. Inside was some hipster sucking through a straw at a brightly colored drink. As the lift comes to the top the hipster doesn’t even look up from his phone as he steps out.

“Look up you idiot!” the man in Natasha’s grip barks.

He jerks to a stop and looks up. He looks between Natasha and the badly beaten man a few times with wide eyes. Then Natasha jabs her captive in the side of his neck with a widow bite. As he jolts and falls to the ground unconscious the hipster scrambles to get to the lift. As he slips in and reaches to slam the alarm, Natasha slides in and pushes him into the back wall. She steps forward and grips his sweater. With a flick of her wrist her widow bites crackle with electricity. “DON’T KILL ME I’LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING! YOU WANT TO NOW ABOUT THE COUNT!?! I’LL TELL YOU ALL ABOUT THE COUNT! I WILL ROLL FASTER THAN A-“ He goes stock still when Nat lays a finger against his mouth.

“Which floor?”

“Which…floor?”

“Which floor do you work on? I assume you’re tech support.”

He gives a slow nod.

“Then which floor? I want to see what you’ve been doing with that data you stole.”

He gulps. “Fourth floor.”

She turns and yanks him to her side. She hits the fourth button, keeping a grip on his shaking arm as the doors slide closed.

They pass two floors when the man says, “I-I have money…”

“I have very little patience.”

The nervous man snaps his mouth shut and looks dead ahead of him. The door opens and Natasha pushes him forward. He stumbles but leads the way. When a guard comes walking down from the opposite end of the corridor Natasha lays a soft touch to his lower back.

“Lets not do anything too shocking alright?” She lets the edge of her bracer dig into his back.

He nods and wipes at the sweat collected at his brow.

The guard ends up turning down a hall before he reaches them. The hipster leads Natasha into a large room with a huge super computer. He flips on the lights and sits in the roller chair in front of the machine.

“I’ll just login.” He hovers his hands over the keyboard only to have his seat rolled away. Then a cable is being wrapped around his body. “H-hey!”

“I’ve got my own login thanks.” She ties the cable from her grappler around him tight before going to the super computer. She plugs in a flash drive and while the screen flashes and code goes scrolling across she speaks into her comm. “Hawkeye, do you still read me?”

“Ba-zzzz-y. Zzzzzaking-zzzz-up. ZZZer.”

“You are too. I’ll check back in when I’m back up top. Out.” She sighs and turns back to the screen.

“You’re going to get caught before you can hack through my security.” Natasha glances over her shoulder to see him smirking. “When the guards find you your program won’t even-WHAT!?!” He stares at the screen in horror as the desktop shows up. “H-how!?!”

She starts going through the recent files and loads them onto the flash drive. “You’re hardly the only computer whiz on the planet. I know a five year old that could probably get past your security.”

“You mean Stark’s brat right? Hey just between us, she’s an android right? Like they wanted a kid so Stark Pinocchioed it and whipped her up in his lab. Been reading the things they’ve been posting about her on Youbook. No way is a five year old that smart unless she’s some sort of freak.”

Without looking she tosses a shock pad and when it makes contact with his forehead he jerks and shakes before passing out. “Jackass.” She continues looking through files. It is not long until her eyes land on something. “Well that’s interesting…”

 

* * *

 

“I spy with my little eye a grey octahedron,” Mari says playing with Steve’s hair.

Steve readjusts her as he walks down the sidewalk with Mari sitting on his shoulders. He scans the street. “An octahedron? Uh…octa means eight so I’m looking for something with eight sides…hmmm…” His eye catches on the stairs leading up to one of the homes. Sitting on the end posts was a diamond shaped finial. He pats it as they pass. “Is it this?”

“Yeah! Your turn!” She runs her fingers through his hair and he feels her shape it into what he is pretty sure is a Mohawk.

He looks around. “Hmmmmm…I spy with my little eye something purple and shiny.”

She bites her lip and looks around them. Her eyes go to the cars but she does not see any purple ones. She swivels her head around but she still cannot see anything. She bends down over his head to look in his eyes. “I don’t see it. Did we already pass it?”

“Nope. Here’s a hint. No matter how far we walk you’ll still be able to see it.”

She sits back up and looks at the sky and the tall buildings. Then she pouts and starts looking over Steve and herself. He shifts his hand and her shoe comes into view. She lets out a shout and points to her foot. “It’s the little glittery stars on my shoes!”

“Good job.” He pats her leg. “Your turn again.”

“How come Daddy calls Miss Agent Carter Aunt Peggy when her name isn’t Stark or Carbonell?”

“Bored with I spy huh? Well Peggy isn’t really his aunt. He just thinks of her as one. She’s his godmother. She’s also the one that taught him how to punch I think.”

“She taught you how to punch too right? That’s what it says at the museum.”

Steve chuckles. “No that was Buck. Although she did assist in my training. She helped me learn to shoot.”

“I watched her interview. She was really sad talking about you. Did you love each other?”

“Yeah we did. We were going to get married.”

“Do you still love her?”

“Yes but not the way I love your Dad.”

“How?”

“Well…” He drummed his fingers on her leg while he thought of his answer. “I cared for Peggy deeply. I was content to spend the rest of my life with her but I couldn’t bring myself to be…” He blushes as he scrambles for a way to try and word this. How on Earth did they go from I spy to this horrible minefield? “…attracted to her. Does that make sense?”

“Like kissing on the mouth?”

“Yes. Like kissing on the mouth.” _And nowhere else as far as you need to be concerned._

“Daddy has kissed lots of girls on the mouth.”

“Yes but Daddy is what you call a bisexual which means he likes both guys and gals. I’m just gay.”

“So if you didn’t like kissing her why did you want to get married to her?”

“Because I wanted a family and the only way to have one back then was to marry a nice girl.”

“Why couldn’t you adopt like you did me?”

“Because it was illegal to be anything but straight back then. I hated having to force myself to be something I wasn’t but I really wanted that white picket fence, kids, family dog…and I enjoyed being around Peggy so I thought if I had to pretend I wouldn’t mind if it was with her. But then I went in the ice and I thought I had lost my chance.” He couldn’t help the shivering that over took him. His body always started to tremble as he remembered the painful bite of the cold and the burn of ice water in his lungs.

“But then you met Daddy.”

“And then I met Daddy.”

“And then you met me!”

He smiled up at her and his trembling subsided as he saw her wide grin. “And then we met you.”

“Does this mean we’re getting a puppy?”

Loud laughing burst from his throat. “We’ll see.”

“I want to walk now.” She wiggles and tries to slide backwards but he tightens his grip around her legs.

“You’re not feeling nauseas anymore? Dialysis took a bit out of you today.”

“I wanna walk.”

“That didn’t answer my question.”

“I’m fiiiine.” She wiggles her legs in his grip.

“Okay, okay.” He lifts her off his shoulders and sets her on the ground. He wraps his hand around hers. “You gotta hold my hand though.”

“But I wanna hop!”

“You can hop holding my hand.”

“Not effectively.” To demonstrate her point she jumps up and down and wiggles the arm he is holding like a limp noodle.

“Well then let me help.”

He gets a better grip on her hand and with that he curls his arm up, lifting her in the air. Mari squeals and her other hand latches onto his grip before she starts swinging her legs forward. He lowers her back until her knees bend. Then when she pushes off he lifts her high back into the air. He swings her up and down as the brownstone he was taking her to comes into sight. They come up to the stairs and he lifts her up over his head before lowering her to the height of the top step. She lets out a giggle as she kicks her legs forward. She stretches out a leg trying to catch the edge of the top stair with her toe. He leans a little forward until she catches and gets a steady footing. As he ascends the steps he keeps a grip of her hands until she’s upright. He knocks on the door and Mari continues to hang from his grip, using her feet as a pivot.

The door opens and Mari releases his hand to hide behind his leg. Steve chuckles and ruffles her hair.

“Hey. Thanks for coming by Steve.” Aaron says.

“It’s no problem really.”

Aaron steps aside to let them in. He leans down and waves to Mari who stays clinging to the back of Steve’s thigh. “There’s some tea and biscuits in the sitting room for you. All kidney friendly of course.” He directs the last bit to Steve.

“Come on Kiddo,” he says when Mari shuffles further behind him. “This is Aaron. He’s Peggy’s son.”

Mari buries her face in the back of his leg.

“She’s a little clingy,” he explains before trying to pry her off. “Kiddo we’re here because Aaron asked me to help him move some things. So while we’re upstairs I’m going to need you to kick back down here and be good okay?”

“Steve? Steve is that you?” a voice calls from the sitting room.

Steve leans around the corner and looks into the room. He feels his heart squeeze as he lays his eyes on the woman sitting in a wingback chair. “Hey Peggy.” He steps into the room. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m doing well, now don’t be alarmed but you seem to have a little something on your pant leg.”

He reaches round and pries Mari out from behind him. He walks over to kneel in front of her and sets Mari between them. “Peggy, this is my daughter, Marianna. Mari, this is Peggy Carter. She’s the woman your Dad and I have been telling you about. She’s the reason we got together in fact.”

“Oh nonsense. You two would have ended up together once you stopped dancing around each other. Now Mari why don’t you come sit and listen to an old woman ramble about the good old days while the boys clear out my attic. I bet you’ve never had a genuine tea party.”

“Daddy has parties with me.” Mari climbs into the chair across the end table from her.

“Oh I know the kinds of parties Tony throws.” She says as she pours tea into a tea cup. “And I’m fairly certain they were more party than tea. Here you are dear.” She hands the cup and its saucer to her.

Steve fights a smile as he watches Mari use all of her focus to safely bring the cup over the arm of the chair to her lap.

“Biscuit?” Peggy holds out a small plate with various cookies on it.

Her eyes widen and she reaches out. “Yes please.”

“Not too many of those Kiddo.” He stands and steps back towards Aaron. “Only four, okay?”

She stills with her hand over the tray. “Six.”

“Five.”

“Five please.” She starts taking off cookies.

“And none of those oatmeal ones.” He pauses by the doorway.

“I knooow.”

“Don’t worry we’ve got everything handled here. I mean really,” Peggy sets the tray down when Mari has her cookies and starts to add a bit of milk to her own tea. “We’re having tea not leaping out of a plane into enemy territory.” She takes a sip of her tea and stage whispers to Mari. “Don’t know where all this caution is coming from, he certainly didn’t have any during the war.”

Aaron snorts from the staircase and Steve has a small smirk. “I’ll just be moving things from upstairs to the car out front ok. Just give a shout if you need me. Be nice.”

“I knoooow. Now shoo shoo Papa.”

“Yes Steve. Shoo shoo. The ladies need to speak about very important matters.”

“We do?”

“We do. Now off you go. Aaron can’t move that furniture by himself.”

Steve holds up his hands in defeat and follows Peggy’s son up the stairs.

Peggy shakes her head. “Here I thought Tony was the worry wart in the relationship.”

“Daddy calls you Aunt Peggy. Can I call you Aunt Peggy too?”

“I’d be honored.” She takes a cookie and breaks it in half. She holds one half out to Mari. “I won’t tell if you won’t.”

Mari takes the cookie and munches on it. “Thank you. Did you punch Nazis with my Pops?”

She chuckles. “On occasion but I mostly found shooting them to be more effective. I doubt your father wants you to hear about those kinds of stories though. How about I regale you a tale about Steve’s first attempt at dancing?”

Mari nods her head and turns to face Peggy more head on.

Meanwhile across town Tony pulls up to a small house in Queens. He looks out his windscreen and takes a deep breath. He taps at the steering wheel and lets his breath out in a long puff. With that he steps out and walks up onto the porch. He readjusts the blazer he is wearing before giving a light knock on the worn door with chipped paint. Nothing. He shakes out his limbs and knocks a little harder. This time he hears footsteps approach. In the narrow window next to the door he sees the curtain move. An elderly woman with white hair looks through. Her eyes widen almost comically before turning into a vicious glare. He straightens his blazer again as she opens the door.

“If you’re here to get us to drop our complaint you can shove off,” snaps Mari’s aunt.

“That’s not why I’m here. I-“

“Mae, who’s at the door?” a deep gravelly voice asks. Soon after a bulky old man with tired eyes comes up to the door. When he sees Tony he glares and sets his hand on her shoulder. “We’re not going to stop trying to get the decision reversed.”

“That’s not why I’m-well not entirely I-“ Tony sighs and rubs his temples. “May I come in and just explain why I’m here?”

“No,” says the man a beat after Tony finishes.

“Now Ben don’t be rude. If Mr. Stark wants to talk lets hear him out.” She walks back inside motioning for him to follow.

Tony waits for Ben to move and after thirty seconds the man takes half a step back. Tony side steps in and walks in the direction Mae went. He steps into a small living room and stands awkwardly by an old overstuffed couch. He looks around and his eyes travel over the picture frames and small knick knacks. He sees one of a young couple holding a swath of cloth and steps closer. The man in the picture had wavey brown hair and thick glasses over brown eyes. He was standing next to a woman in a hospital bed with wild fluffy hair that was escaping the bun someone had tried to tie it back into. Her cheeks were pink and she had a pair of glasses over tired hazel eyes. Upon closer inspection he sees that the bundle of cloth was wrapped around a squishy pink face that resembled more of an angry jelly bean than a baby. He’d know that little scrunched up nose anywhere though. At first he thought he was mistaken because this baby had hair several shades darker than Mari’s and it had dark brown eyes. Tony knew Mari had blue grey eyes. But no, that little pout was one of a kind. He thought back to some of the baby books he had read when they were still thinking of adopting a baby boy and remembers that some said eye and hair color can change over time. Besides even though she was only five Mari was already starting to look like a mirror image of the woman in the picture.

“Would you like some lemonade Mr. Stark?”

Tony looks over his shoulder and sees Mae set a tray with a pitcher of lemonade and glasses onto the coffee table. She sits on the couch next to a glaring Ben and picks up the pitcher.

“Yes. Thank you.” Tony walks over and sits on the chair across from them.

Mae pours him a glass. “Before we continue…Mari…how-how is she?” She hands him the glass with a shaking hand and Tony takes it with a nod of thanks.

“She’s doing well. She seems happy. Her condition hasn’t worsened but we’ve had to change to hemodialysis.”

Her grip tightens around her cup and Ben rubs circles into her back.

Tony takes a sip to wet his dry mouth. “She’s actually why I’m here.”

“We’re not going to stop fighting to get her back,” says Ben in a hard voice.

“I had a feeling you’d say that which is why I wanted to make a proposition.”

“Are you trying to buy our niece?” Mae demands.

“If that’s what it takes to keep my daughter but first I’d like to extend an olive branch.”

“Is this a negotiation?”

“You’re not going to win your case. You’ve lost every motion you’ve filed, social services ignores all your complaints, and no matter what happens it doesn’t change the fact that you still can’t afford to give her the help she needs. And if I wanted to I could have a whole team of lawyers bury you in paperwork. But she was taken from your care because you couldn’t afford her, not that you didn’t love her. You wouldn’t fight this hard to get her back if you didn’t care which confuses me because the reason she was put up for adoption was because you had no contact with her for over sixth months.”

“Because they wouldn’t let us.” Ben sits forward. “They were always moving her around, changing her social worker. By the time we received any information, if we received it at all, it was already out of date.”

Tony leaned back and mulled that over. The file said that they had been given all the appropriate notifications but there were a lot of vital files missing from Mari’s case and this lined up with what she had told him about her time in the system.

“Is that olive branch coming yet?” Mae asks.

“…I want to talk to you about visitation.”

“You think we’d just be satisfied with visiting my dead nephew’s only child?” Ben asks leaning forward.

“No but Mari is my daughter. Not ‘I think of her as my daughter’, not ‘she feels like a daughter to me’. She is my daughter and I’m not going to give her up but she misses you two and Mari can only benefit from having more people in her life that love her. So, let me and Steve show you how much WE love her. We’ll bring her to visit or you can come to the tower, we want you to be part of her life.”

“And we drop the case in exchange?” Mae arches an eyebrow in suspicion.

“Once you are satisfied that she’s happy with us.”

Mae and Ben exchange looks and Tony watches as they seem to have a silent conversation. But then Mae turns and holds out a hand. “Very well Mr. Stark. You have a deal.”

“Please, call me Tony.” Tony shakes her hand and then Ben’s. He winces at the strong grip the old man uses. “Um, Mari is with Steve visiting an old friend of ours right now but would you like to come over for dinner tomorrow?”

Mae nods rapidly and scoots to the edge of the couch cushion. She turns to her husband and speaks in a stern voice not looking away from the man. “Ben and I would be VERY happy to join you. Won’t we dear?”

Ben harrumphs but nods his head.

Tony lets out a sigh. He hopes the rest of his plan goes as smoothly as step one. Well maybe a little smoother will be nice.

There is an awkward silence that hangs in the air as everyone just stares at each other. After a minute Mae asks, “That photo you were looking at earlier was taken a few hours after she was born. Would you…like to see more baby pictures?”

Tony smiled. “I’d love that.”

“Just wait here then.”

The two men watch her leave and once she is around the corner Ben fixes Tony with a hard glare. “If you think a few nice words are going to get me to trust you, you have another thing coming Mr. Stark.”

“I take it you’re not a fan of me.”

“I never really thought much of how you presented yourself. Walking peacock if you ask me. But Maggie, Mari’s mother, she didn’t trust you or anyone in your company. She definitely didn’t trust SHIELD and Hydra. There was a lot you surround yourself with that she didn’t trust. Now, Maggie was a bit eccentric but she was never wrong. I never knew how she knew the things she knew but she did. If she knew of a reason not to trust you and your organizations then I’m damn well not going to forget that when dealing with you.”

Tony frowns. Maggie. The woman that he could hardly find any information on. Tony was about to ask who she was when Mae came back with two thick scrap books.

“Scoot your caboose Bennie.” Mae bumps him with her hip until he moves over. She pats the cushion on her other side. “Well come on, you can’t see them from over there.”

Tony moves to sit on the couch and looks through the photo album with Mae explaining them. Occasionally he’ll look up to Ben shooting him untrusting looks.

 

* * *

 

Mari liked Aunt Peggy. She was nice and had lots of stories tell. Not all of them were grand epics. Most were about the silly things her friends and her did between missions or when Steve and her reconnected after the ice. The ones that were about their deeds though, seemed too grand to be real. “Wooooooow. That really happened?”

“Every word,” Peggy answers.

“You’re so cool. You did all these things, went all these places and you don’t even need powers or a cool suit. I wish I could be like you.”

“Well why can’t you?” She arches a brow at Mari.

Mari rubbed at where her fistula was inserted by the doctors. “Because I’m small and sick.”

“I’m still not hearing a reason.”

She frowns at the older woman. Was she serious? “I’m small. And sick. All I hear are reasons. I have more,” Mari says slowly.

“Now do you think your father let those things stop him when he tried to join the army?”

“They didn’t let him join though until they decided to pump him full of miracle grow.”

Peggy laughed. “You have a small point there but he still had to go through basic without the serum. And he did better than any of the other men. Not because he was stronger or faster but because he had compassion and he was smart and from what I hear you are quite the intelligent little girl.”

“Exactly, little! Nobody listens when you’re little, no one thinks you can do anything.” As she picks up steam she starts to speak faster and faster. All the times where she was brushed off or ignored coming to the forefront of her mind. The detectives that didn’t believe her, the CPS agents that wouldn’t listen, and the fosters that just didn’t care flashed through her mind one at a time. “It doesn’t matter how much smarter than them you are. As long as you’re saying stuff they don’t like, they don’t listen and bury you.” Bury you in the system where you’re just another number.

Peggy shifts to face her. “I am going to tell you what I told my niece Sharon when she went to join SHIELD. People would much rather see you in the places they think you should be but you need to fight and show them that you’re brave enough to be there.”

“But I’m not brave. I’m not like you or Pops or Daddy. I’m scared. All the time.” Her voice breaks on the last word.

Peggy reaches across the end table and brushes her fingers along Mari’s cheek. “And you think we aren’t scared?

Believe me dear you can’t do what we do and not be scared. Bravery isn’t the absence of fear it is the ability to act in spite of it.”

“…but how…?”

“Compromise where you can but if you find you can’t then when people tell you to move even if it’s the whole world, I want you to plant your roots like a tree and say, ‘No! You move’. You hold your ground and stand tall.”

“…I don’t know if I can do that…I’m not very tall...”

“Then get a tall pot.”

Mari giggles at that. “Ok…I think I can try…”

“That’s all anyone expects.” She gives her cheek one more pat before leaning back. “Now go into that cabinet over there and open the bottom door. There is a little something in there that I think will help.”

Mari climbs down from the chair and goes to the cabinet. When she opens the door there are thick scraps books and a single teddy bear. The bear is wearing a blue pea coat, boots, and shorts with red tights and gloves. On its face is a little black bandit mask. It smelled like dust and the clothes were a little tattered around the edges but the fur was soft and it still had all the buttons and eyes. She takes it out and brushes back the tuft of fur on the top of its head. “A teddy bear?”

“Not just any teddy bear.” Peggy motions her closer. She bops the bear on the nose. “This here is an Original Bucky Bear. I used to have a Captain America one but I’m afraid the moths got to it a few years ago. I got them for my little ones. They used to go to sleep with them to chase nightmares away.”

“I’m afraid of more than just nightmares…”

“I know. But things always seem a little less scary when you have someone at your back.”

“You’re letting me borrow him?”

“I’m letting you keep him. He’s yours now luv.” Peggy reaches a shaking hand out to push the bear closer to Mari’s chest.

“Thank you Aunt Peggy.” Mari steps forward to wrap her arms around her and Peggy returns the gesture, rubbing small circles into her back.

“You can always come to Aunt Peggy for back up luv,” she whispers in her ear. “You remember that.”

“I will.” Mari pulls back to give her a small smile.

Peggy smiles back.

 

* * *

 

Black Widow’s tires squeal as she rounds a corner. As her bike speeds down the side road she hears half a dozen other bikes speed around the corner. She shoots a look over her shoulder. Four of them have faster models and are closing in on her. She leans further down, trying to create less drag. It does not give her much of an advantage and soon she is forced to duck as the goon on the bike next to her swings out a baton. This exposes the arm hole in his vest. She lashes out and lands a well-placed widow bite into his arm pit.

He spasms and crashes. The other security officer in pursuit directly behind him gets taken out but the five others are able to swerve in time. Black Widow takes a sharp turn down an alley and jerks done a fire escape. The goon closest on her tail runs faces first into the ladder, falling from his bike causing a pile up in the narrow alley. The goons that still have their wits, pull weapons and open fire. Black Widow ducks lower and weaves to avoid the shots. She pulls her own fire arm and fires behind her.

She takes another sharp turn at the end of the alley and speeds down the street. Bikes burst out of the alley ahead of her and open fire. She is forced to swerve and shoots down another road between two warehouses. She swerves, barely missing a bullet that comes from above. Another soon follows the first, then another, and another. One hits her back tire causing her to swerve. She leans into it and uses it to roll behind a dumpster. More bullets rain down around her getting close but none have a good enough angle. She pulls out a grenade and a compact mirror. She then listens for the shots and watches the pattern of the bullets. She then lifts the mirror over the lip of the dumpster and angles it up towards the windows of the surrounding warehouses. She gets a glimpse of two muzzle flashes before the mirror is shot out of her hand. She pulls a pipe out of the box next to her and gives it a once over.

She arms the grenade and shoots to her feet. In the same instance she tosses the grenade up and hits it with the pipe. She ducks back down but the sound of glass shattering tells her she hit her target. Then it goes off. In the confusion she pulls out her firearm and shoots into the window she saw the other shooter. Her mark slumps forward causing his rifle to fall out of the window. With her weapon holstered, she then goes to her bike and examines it. The back tire has lost pressure but the rung inside it seems undamaged which should give her enough stability to make it to a safe point.

“I can’t believe you made that work,” Clint groans over the comm.

“You’re just sour because now you’re picking up lunch next,” she says as she mounts her bike with a small smile. “See you in two hours?”

A loud grumbling catches her ear. She turns in time to see half a dozen men turn onto the street.

“Make that three.” She surges forward.

As she speeds toward them they pull out firearms and batons. The ones leading the charge open fire and she swerves, leaning down to pick up the sniper’s fallen gun. As she returns fire she sighs, wondering where mercenaries got their marksmen training nowadays. They just don’t make killers like they used to.

When she got close she leaps off the bike and into an unprepared goon. Before he has hit the ground she snaps his neck between her thighs. Her bike skids into half of the others and she opens fire. A goon comes up behind her, swinging a baton. She moves out of its path and hits him with the butt of her weapon. As he stumbles back she puts another goon in a head lock and uses her leverage to force him to shoot the stumbling idiot. She snaps his neck when she is done and chucks the empty rifle at a goon that has his gun aimed at her. He squeezes the trigger as he falls back. The bullet grazes her shoulder but she doesn’t slow down. There are two more and they try to keep their distance but she rushes forward at the closest one. He lashes out with his baton but she dodges each swing and hits him with two widow bites to the solar plexus. As he falls to the ground she swipes his baton and throws it at the last man’s head. He dodges out the way with a roll, picking up a gun along the way. She sees what he is doing half way through the motion and reaches for her own gun. She gets it halfway up when her opponent aims his gun and the pop of a gunshot goes off. She expects to feel the searing pain of a bullet but nothing comes. The last of her pursuers fall. She looks around at the surrounding rooftops and catches a glint of metal before it disappears. She glances back at the body with a frown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please help support me on [**Ko-fi**](https://ko-fi.com/Z8Z5DNDF) so I can have more time for you darlings!


	3. Chapter 3

“BARTON!” Steve snaps.

Clint turns in time to have a pair of very smelly socks thrown in his face. He frowns and sets the game controller down so he can move them not so close to smelling range.

“This is not your locker, it’s my coffee table! Put those and the game where they belong. You have your own doodad in your own room. Mari, sweetie, can you not draw on the windows?” He marches back to the kitchen to spray the counter and scrubs at it with a rag.

“She gets sweetie and I get Barton? What kind of favoritism bull-“ Clint’s tongue goes dead when Steve shoots him a death glare. Clint turns to put the game box away as fast as he can.

“It’s okay Papa. It’s only dry erase. Daddy said I can do it. We’re doing derivatives.”

“Daddy may have said that, but I’m saying it’s time to clean up. Do it please.” Mari heaves a dramatic sigh but picks up the eraser and starts cleaning the window. “Where is your father anyway? Wasn’t he just here? Tony! Jarvis where’s my husband?”

“Uh-oh.” Tony says as he walks up the steps that lead to his lab, looking down at a tablet. “You only call me your husband in one of two scenarios and that’s not your fun time voice.” 

“Just help Mari clean the windows please.” Steve returns to removing all the fingerprints and smudges from the stainless steel surface on the oven.

“He misplace his shield up his ass?” Clint asks in a whisper to Tony.

“Are you still in my living room?” Steve asks as he moves to clean the counter around the coffee maker.

“We have some special guests coming today,” Tony says as he takes the eraser from Mari to get the higher up marks.

“Special guests I seem to be the only one concerned about.” Steve throws his arms up.

“They already hate me. Looking like I’m from Mr. Roger’s neighborhood isn’t going to change that. Besides, you’re stressing out the k-i-d-d-o.” Tony nods down at Mari who is looking between the two with her hands fretting at her hair.

Steve sighs and the tension leaves his shoulders. “I’m sorry Clint. Today just needs to go perfectly.”

“No, I get it man. I’ll get out of your hair. Good luck guys. Hey,” Clint shoots finger guns at Mari. “Stay cool pipsqueak.”

When Mari returns the gesture he gives a salute to Steve and Tony before leaving.

“Who is coming?” Mari asks.

“It’s a surprise.” Tony collects the markers and puts them with the eraser on the coffee table. He waggles his eyebrows at her when she continues to frown at him.

She glances over at Steve. “It doesn’t seem like a good surprise…”

Steve sighs. “I’m sorry Kiddo.” He puts the cleaning supplies in a cabinet under the counter then walks over to scoop up Mari. “Papa just got a little stressed. We want today to go really well for you. We promise, you’ll really like it.”

“Really?”

“Really, really.” Steve nuzzles her nose.

“Sir, your guests have just entered the building,” says Jarvis.

“Alright, let’s get this party started.” Tony claps his hands and rubs them together. Then he takes Mari from Steve to set her on the ground. He pushes her glasses back up her nose. “Why don’t you go wait by the elevator to greet them?”

She turns around and makes grabbing hands up at him. He almost doesn’t stop his knee jerk reaction to pick her. Instead he turns her back around. “Go on. I promise. You’ll like this surprise. We’re right behind you.”

Mari still doesn’t perk up but she goes to the elevator.

“What if this back fires on us?” Steve asks as he makes sure his polo is still tucked in.

“Don’t worry. We have the paper work on our side. The most they can do is rile up the paparazzi.” Tony reaches up and brushes a stray blonde hair back in to place.

“You honestly think I’m worried how this will affect just the two of us?”

“No.” Tony pulls him down so he can peck a kiss on his husband’s lips. “But that is all I have answers for.” He gives the back of his neck a squeeze before letting go and turning to follow Mari to the elevator.

Mari stood in front of the doors and rocked back and forth on her heels. She didn’t understand why her parents were acting so weird. They had been hiding something from her since yesterday. She didn’t know what but it was something big. They would whisper to each other when they thought she wasn’t paying attention with frowns but when she’d ask them about it they’d just say it was a surprise with a smile plastered on their faces. She didn’t like surprises. The last time she got a surprise a cps agent said she wouldn’t be going home again. This new surprise felt like it was eating a hole in her stomach. There were a million thoughts as to what it could be. Or who. What little information they gave her pointed it to being a person or people. As her head raced with possible scenarios she tugs at her hair. She’s starting to wish she had grabbed Bucky Bear first.

The ding of the elevator makes her jump. When she looks up from her feet the doors are opening. She freezes when she sees the people on the other side. Staring back at her are her Aunt Mae and Uncle Ben. She doesn’t know what to make of what’s in front of her. Her mind stopped working and the blood rushing in her head was deafening. Her mouth opens and closes. Was this a trap? She looks to Steve and Tony but they just smile and nod toward the older couple, keeping their distance.

Mae kneels down and reaches a hand out to stroke her hair only to stop when Mari flinches. She reaches out again but moves slower. She runs her hand through the frizzy hair. “Look at you. You’ve gotten so big since we last saw you. How have you been Mami?”

“Where-Where did you go?”

Ben kneels down next to them. “Oh Mami, they wouldn’t let us see you. We tried to visit as often as we could but they kept moving you. We fought so hard to get you back.”

“We never stopped.” Mae cups Mari’s face in her hands and runs her thumbs over her cheeks. “We always kept fighting to get you back.”

“Dr. Krevin said I was too much for you. That you had to leave because of me. It was all my fault.” Mari bursts into tears and Mae pulls her close with Ben wrapping his arms around them both.

Steve and Tony share a look with each other. What kind of therapist had they been sending her to?

“None of this was your fault Mami. None of it,” says Ben.

“But that doesn’t matter now. Now, we are here and we are never letting you go again.” Mae squeezes her tighter. 

Mari buries her face in Mae’s shoulder and sobs. Ben leans in and whispers something low in Icelandic.

It breaks Steve’s heart. They should have done this sooner. Much sooner. He had thought she was doing well with them but by the looks of it, she hadn’t been as well as he thought. A fact that he thought was being addressed in her therapy sessions. That was next on his list.

After a minute Mari pulls away. “A-Are you going to come live with us now?” She asks between hiccups.

“No Mami-“ Ben began.

“But they’re always welcome to come visit,” Tony interrupts. “And we can go visit them.”

Mari turns a watery smile at him. “Can I show them my room?”

“It’s your room Kiddo.”

Mari pulls away from her Aunt and Uncle and tugs on their hands. “Come see my room. It has all this neat stuff. Come on.”

“Oh, um…” Mae turns to point at a crock pot that they had sat down on the floor when they went to embrace Mari.

Steve jerks forward and picks up the pot. How did he miss that? “Let me get that ma’am. I’ll set it on counter.” He starts to turn away before jerking back. “Oh where are my manners? We haven’t properly met.” He moves the pot into one arm and holds out his hand. “I’m Captain Steve Rogers.” Mae takes his hand and gives it a small shake before he takes Ben’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Ma’am, sir.”

“It’s just Ben and Mae son. No need to be so flustered,” Ben says. 

“Come see my room. Come see my room.” Mari pulls on their hands hard. She tugs them around Steve and Tony and down the hall.

“Why don’t you show them your bathroom too so you can wash your hands before dinner,” Tony calls after her and tries to stifle a yawn. When Steve steps up next to him, Tony smirks at him. “So how does it feel to get a taste of your own medicine, ‘son’?”

Steve tries to frown at his husband but a smile causes the corners of his mouth to twitch. “Shut up pip.” He knocks Tony’s shoulder as he walks past him to the kitchen. 

  


* * *

  


After being dismissed from the penthouse and dumping his dirty socks in his hamper, Clint made his way down to the Avenger’s nerve center. When he walked in, he found Nat and Bruce combing through chunks of information on the holotable.

“Just to let you guys know, the squirts relatives are visiting so the penthouse is off limits today.” Clint hops up on the edge of the table and swipes a handful of popcorn from the bowl Bruce was munching on.

“We know.” Nat didn’t even look up from the text she was reading.

“How?”

“They put out a mass message to the team,” says Bruce.

“Not to me,” Clint whines.

“Check your phone,” Nat says.

Clint pulls out his phone to look. Then he holds the screen out to her. “Ha, ha! See. No messages.”

While he was still holding out his phone she reaches over and opens his email. The bar across the top of the screen lights up and then his inbox was flooded with unread emails. The most recent one being from Tony with the subject line “Stay out of penthouse; Important guests”. He lets out a small oh.

“You should really change your sync settings,” she says before going back to her work.

“I try not to check it a lot. It’s usually just Coulson wanting me to fill out some new piles of paper work.”

“Maybe you’d have less paper work if you stopped using top secret new tech as target practice.” Bruce arches an eyebrow at him.

“Eh, I only shoot the stuff they shouldn’t be making in the first place.” Clint turns to the read outs in front of Bruce. “Speaking of being naughty, what are you guys looking at?” 

“We’re still combing through all the data I dug up at the Maggia hideout,” says Nat. “Then we have to dig through what SHIELD dumped on us after they went and cleaned it out.”

“How nice of them to do that after you take out half their security,” Clint says around a mouth full of popcorn.

She shrugs. “SHIELD has its other uses.”

“Then can we use one of them instead of sending me all over New York on wild goose chases?” Sam asks as he walks in before collapses on the couch they keep along the back wall. 

“Nothing?” Nat asks. She doesn’t show anything more than mild curiosity but Clint takes note of the “I’m-Black-Widow-fear-me” face.

“I got some leads from some ATM footage but the trail went cold. Pretty sure he’s still in town though.”

“I think I’m lost. Who is?” Bruce looks between Nat and Sam.

Nat reaches into her jacket’s inside pocket and pulls out a baggie with a large caliber bullet inside. She tosses it and he scrambles to catch it. Clint hides his smile by eating another hand full of popcorn. Bruce dumps the bullet into his hand to examine it closer. His eyebrows raise when he sees the red star painted on the bottom. He looks to Nat.

“That was left on a roof top near the hideout.”

“And in case you don’t realize it,” Clint says. “An assassin painting every single bullet is both a pain in the ass and stupid. So this was left on purpose. He wants us to know he’s in town.”

“Why not, I don’t know, just come by and tell us.” Bruce puts the bullet back in the baggie and hands it back to Nat.

“Because he’s as dramatic as Steve,” says Clint.

“And as emotionally constipated,” Sam calls from the couch.

Nat stares at the bullet before saying, “He had Mari pass on that file of Chameleon. Maybe he’s caught wind of what’s going on.”

“Like a hit out on Steve?” asks Clint. “That’s the only thing I can think of that would lure him out of hiding.”

Bruce brings up a new file from the batch. As he scans over the information and schematics he furrows his brow. “Maybe Steve isn’t the one with a hit out on him…” He then brings up another set of files from a past data recovery. He selects the two files he wants and projects them to the center of the table. “Does anyone see the difference between these two schematics?”

“No? They’re the same file.” Clint looks back at Bruce with an arched brow. “Has someone been hitting the caffeine booster a little too hard?”

“They are both the same schematics for a neuro data translation chip. One was collected from the hide out by the docks.” He looks at Nat. “The other was collected months ago. When you raided one of Count Nefaria’s properties.”

“The guy may still have a hard on for Tony. He did get his ass handed to him pretty hard. I guess that means we have a who now.” Sam walks towards the table to look over some of the files. “What were you looking into the Count for?”

“He’s been making some suspicious inquiries. Mainly in the black market. Now we know for what.”

“Now hold on,” says Clint. “What would Nefaria need with SI personnel files?”

“Maybe he needed a way in?” Bruce supplies.

“He hired Chameleon. He already had a way in,” says Sam. 

Nat stared down at the projects. “…maybe he needed a who as well.”

“What?”

“Look at these projects. ‘Neuro data translation chip’, ‘Chemical stimulators’, ‘Nano carriers’. Tony would notice if someone planted something on him or in him.”

“But not if it was someone he trusted.” Sam logged in and brought up the files Chameleon stole. “And it couldn’t be anyone too close because it might slip out that they had been switched.”

“So close enough to screw him but not close enough to go out to coffee with?” Clint asks. “There were thousands of names that were stolen. It’s not gonna be easy narrowing that down. We don’t even know what they wanted to plant. And even if they planted it yet.”

“Bruce and I will keep digging through these schematics,” says Nat. “You and Sam start narrowing the list.”

Clint groans. “Great. We’re stuck digging through digital paper work and the happy couple is upstairs having homemade dinner.”

“I’ll order some pizza,” says Sam.

  


* * *

  


Steve pulls the hood of the towel up over Mari’s head and wraps the towel around her. He runs his hands along her shoulders and arms to sop up the water on her skin.

“Did you have a good time today?”

A wide smile split her face. “Yeaaah.”

He smiles back and rubs the towel into her hair. He gives her one more pat down.

“I’ll get to see them again right?”

“Of course Kiddo.” He wraps his arms around her in a hug and lifts her up. He walks them out of the bathroom, Jarvis turning off the lights and heating lamp behind them, and into her bedroom across the hall. “You’re having lunch with them tomorrow, remember?” He sets her feet on the bed and grabs her PJ bottoms. He shakes them out. As he holds them out for her to step into, his eyes zero in on her teeth gnawing on her bottom lip. “What’s wrong?” He looks up into her eyes.

“You’re not mad are you?” She reaches up to fret at a lock of her hair. It causes a rivulet to run down her shoulder.

“Why would I be mad?” He takes an edge of the towel to mop it before he untangles her fingers from her hair.

“Because you adopted me because you wanted me to be part of your family and…not theirs…”

Steve nodded. Then he reached up and wrapped the towel around her hair, wringing it out into the fabric. “Did you know that flatworms can regenerate?”

She tilts her head. “No.”

“It’s amazing really. If you cut a flatworm in half it will regenerate into two worms. My ma used to say love was like a flatworm.” He laughs when Mari’s face scrunches up. “Yeah, not the most appealing analogy but it’s not wrong. She used to tell me that love was like a flatworm because no matter how many times you cut it up and give it to people, you still have a whole worm to give someone else.” He unwraps the towel and uses it to squeeze at her still damps ends.

“Love is infinite not finite?”

“That’s right.” He sets the towel aside to tug her shirt on. “And that’s how it is with us. I love you more than I could describe.” He cups her face between his hands and squishes her cheeks in. “But that doesn’t mean I love your dad any less. And just because you love your great aunt and uncle doesn’t mean you have any less love to give us.” He kisses her nose. “So no. I’m not mad. In fact the more people that love you the better in my books.” He kisses her nose again and slips on her glasses. “Let’s go say nite, nite to Daddy.”

“Okay!” She bounces off the bed and he catches her to lower her onto the ground. She grabs her Bucky Bear and runs out of the room.

“Walk please.” He gathers up her towel and hangs it on its hook when he passes the bathroom.

When Mari enters the living room she finds Tony sitting on the couch with his head leaned back and his eyes closed. His arms were crossed tightly across his chest, his knuckles white. She ran and leaped, landing on the cushion next to him with a bounce. “Daddy!”

Tony lets out a shout and jerks awake. His head whips around before his eyes land on her in a wide stare.

“Nite, nite Daddy.”

He gives her a small smile before pulling her in for a hug and a kiss to the head. “Nite, nite Kiddo.”

Just as Steve comes in, the elevator opens. Sam, Bruce, and Clint walk in with Nat leading. She heads straight for the dining table with some projector beads.

“We found something you’ll want to see,” she says as she places the beads at the corners of the table. They flare to life projecting the Avengers Intelligence Interface as Steve walks up.

“Go to bed. We’ll come to tuck you in, in a sec.” Tony kisses her head one more time before going to the table.

“But I wanna see what’s going on.” She climbs onto a chair to look at the read outs Nat brings up.

“Avengers business kiddo.” Steve plucks her off the chair and gives her a little push towards the hallway. “Off you go.”

She pouts up at him but he just smirks and waves towards the hallway. She starts to walk that way dragging her feet. Before she gets too far she glances over her shoulder and when she sees Steve’s attention has returned back to the table she circles round. 

“We have a who and a motive,” says Nat. “Some of the data we recovered we’ve recovered before. From Count Nefaria.”

“Him again?” Tony groans. “I thought the Maggia would have kicked him out when we kicked his butt. Why are they still letting him use their resources?”

Mari peeks between the bodies trying to see what they’re looking at, but the projection lays parallel to the table and doesn’t raise high enough off the surface for her to even read the underside. She goes to the edge of the table and rises on her tip toes to try and see. She pouts when it’s still too distorted to read.

“Maybe they’re working on the three strikes system?” Clint asks.

Sam coughs and Mari looks up at him. He widens his stance a bit so he has a foot close to the table. He looks at it pointedly. She smiles and steps on his boot. It only raises her a couple inches but it’s enough to see what the projection beads are displaying. He holds out his hand so she can grip it for stability. Steve catches Sam’s eye but the other hero only shrugs his shoulders and looks at the display.

“The schematics and research we pooled had a wide range,” says Bruce. “But most of it had to do with neurology, sleep, and dream studies.”

“Dream studies?” Steve asks.

“Yes. From what we can figure he was making a stimulant that could cause nightmares or dreams with varying intensity depending on the frequency it was exposed to.”

Steve looks straight at Tony when Bruce says the word nightmares. Tony couldn’t even close his eyes lately without being tormented by inner demons. He had noticed the nightmares were appearing more often but Steve had attributed that to stress and Tony’s anxiety. He had been looking at natural causes. Not…whatever this was.

Tony glances at him before looking to Bruce with a furrowed brow. “So what? He’s looking to wreak havoc by scwary nightmwares? If he’s trying to ruin my sleep schedule jokes on him. I already don’t sleep.”

“That’s what kind of makes it brilliant,” says Sam. “We all have memories that haunt us. Reoccurring nightmares. Really, which one of us would be concerned by a string of nightmares? Or even notice the uptick.”

“To what ends?” Tony demands.

“When’s the last time you woke up feeling like you were actually refreshed?” asks Nat.

Tony doesn’t answer.

“Bruce, how long can someone go without sleep before…” Steve glances down at Mari’s face. “You know.”

“About eleven days with no sleep what’s so ever. With intermitted sleep that time could be extended. But the stimulant doesn’t just cause nightmares.”

“Oh wonderful. Please, do continue.” Tony crosses his arms and rolls his eyes.

“It also enhances the dreams.” Bruce brings up a study the Count did. “Makes them more real. Therefore the body’s reaction is more visceral.”

“What are you trying to say?” Steve asks.

Bruce glances at Mari before leaning toward Steve and Tony. He whispers, “The stimulant works better the longer it has been in the system, given a chance to adjust. The more it settles the stronger the reaction from your body. With your medical history, you’re likely to die of a heart attack before exhaustion.”

“Who’s this?” Mari expands the profile on Count Nefaria.

Steve walks over, picks up Mari, and puts her on the ground facing the hallway with a little more force than necessary. “Marianna. Go to bed.”

She turns towards him. “But I wanna-“

He points down the hall and says in a harsh voice, “Now. Or you’ll be doing lines tomorrow about listening. Do you understand me?”

She looks down and hugs her bear to her chest. “Yes Papa.”

He turns her around, much more gently this time. He ruffles her hair as well. “Good. Now bed.” He waits for her to get at least halfway to the hall before returning to the table. “Do we have a location?”

“We’ve got a hunch,” says Nat.

Before entering the hall Mari glances back over her shoulder. Something serious was happening. That much she can tell. Something about a weird dream machine? But no one is telling her anything. Again. She turns to return to her room but movement catches her eye. She looks to the window on the wall adjacent the elevator. There’s something shiny and small crawling along the surface. She looks back at the table again but all the adults are focused on the projections. She tiptoes closer to the window trying to move as slowly and quietly as possible. As she got closer she could make out the shape of a small bug on the high set window. When it moves around its shiny exoskeleton catches the light and glints. It’s no longer than an inch. Coming out of its small head is a wicked looking needle, making it resemble a scary looking mosquito. Images of it biting her or laying thousands of eggs in her ears while she sleeps flash in her mind. A shiver races across her skin and she looks around for something to swat it with. When she doesn’t see anything she whispers her plan of attack to Bucky Bear. Then, with slow precise steps, brandishing Bucky Bear, she approaches the mosquito. It buzzes close to the glass, landing a little higher up. As she gets under the window, her grip on her bear tightens. Then, before it can move, she jumps and swings Bucky Bear as hard as she can at it.

The minute the bear makes contact though his head explodes into a cloud of stuffing and glass rains down. She shrieks and falls on her back in surprise as metal shutters slam down on all the windows and exits in the penthouse. Steve pulls Tony to the ground with the other Avengers joining them as the alarm blares and the safety shutters crash down around them.

“There has been a shot fired into the south side window,” says Jarvis over the speakers. “I enacted security measures and calculated the trajectory of the projectile.”

Steve looks up to see the tablet on the kitchen counter come to life with information. His heart stops when he hears a small whimper.

“Oh god no!” Tony shoves Steve off and shoots in the direction of the sound. He finds Mari curled up on the floor in front of the elevator surrounded by glass and stuffing, with her hands tight over her ears. Without a second thought he bolts over. He doesn’t even register the glass cutting into his knees when he kneels down to grab at Mari’s body. “Mari!?! Mari baby answer me! Are you okay?”

Steve comes around the corner when she sits up with Tony’s help and tugs at her hair with frantic hands. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. Don’t be mad. Please. I didn’t mean to break it. It was an accident.” She bursts into body wracking sobs. “Please don’t hate me. I’m sorry. Please.”

Tony heaves a sigh and hugs her close, crushing her to his chest. “I’m not mad kiddo. It wasn’t your fault. Besides, I could never hate you.”

“Are you sure?” She hiccups.

“Positive.” He pulls her away to kiss her cheeks, nose, and forehead before crushing her to his chest again.

Nat, Sam, and Clint run behind Steve towards the stairs.

“We’ve got a possible location. We’re going after them,” Nat calls behind her.

Steve looks after them before turning back Tony. “Is she hurt?”

Tony pulls her back a little and runs his hands over her head and over her body. “No. I think she’s alright.”

“I’m joining the hunt.” Steve shoots off down the hall after them.

Tony pulls Mari back to his chest and rocks her. He holds her tight until her sobbing softens and her breathing evens out. Tony looks up over her head when he hears footsteps approach.

“I pulled this out of the wall. It nearly hit the entertainment center.” Bruce holds out a large caliber bullet.

Tony takes the bullet to examine it closer. It was a big motherfucker. Sturdy too because it was still mostly intact. He had already assumed that though. He didn’t just put any old regular glass in his buildings. Not many places you could get ammunition able to puncture it. He is jerked out of his thoughts when crying starts up again in his ear.

“Baby?” His eyes dart over Mari again. “Are you okay? Did you step on glass?” He hands the bullet back to Bruce and lifts Mari off the ground. He balances her on his hip so he can run a hand over her bare feet.

“Bucky Bear’s head ‘sploaded,” she wails.

Tony’s tense shoulders relax and he rubs her back. “I’ll buy you a new one kiddo.”

“But Aunt Peg-Peggy gave me-me that one,” she says between hiccupping sobs.

Of course it had to be the one toy he couldn’t just buy.

Bruce bends down to pick up the toy, the bullet being slipped into his breast pocket. “Well, it’s not that bad of a rip. We can probably sew him back together. He just needs some sutures and I can do that.”

“Really?”

“For once, I am that kind of doctor.”

Mari smiles and Tony sets her down so they can put the stuffing back in the bear.

  


* * *

  


“I’ve got eyes on the sniper. He’s going down seventy-third and just turned on second,” Clint says over the comm.

Sam swerves and dives past Clint towards the man speeding through the streets.

Steve revs the engine on his hover bike and swings around a building. “Are you close enough for an ID?”

“Yeah but you’re not going to like it,” Clint says as the motorcyclist takes a sharp turn into an alley with Sam hot on his trail turning perpendicular to the ground to fit between the buildings. 

“Why not?”

Clint accelerates and comes around the corner to see the man scoop up a trash can lid. He then flings it against the wall where it ricochets off the brick and into Sam’s face.

“Ragh!” Sam is made to tilt and his wings clip on the side of the walls sending him careening into a dumpster. “Ugh. Fuck you Barnes!”

“Bucky?” Steve lets go of the acceleration on his bike in shock. Why would Bucky be shooting at them?

“I’m heading him off.” Natasha pulls off from the group. “Send him my way.”

“One 1940’s solider of the shiny variety, coming your way.” Clint hits a button and a side compartment pops open from his bike. He didn’t have enough time to grab his archery set before they left, but luckily Tony had stocked his bike with a spanking new cross bow. Complete with flash bang arrows. 

He aimed a little further up the soldier’s path and fired the arrow. Hearing the whistle of the arrow Bucky turns down another road at the last second to avoid the blast. Clint nocked a few more arrows blocking any roads he might turn down. He sent one last arrow in between a dumpster and the wall sending it careening out into Barnes’ path. Barnes turns down one last alley. Natasha swings out the other side and Clint dives down to block the only other exit. He comes down to ground level just in time to see an unmanned motorcycle roll past Natasha.

“Where the fuck did he go?” Clint asks.

“We lost Barnes.” Natasha says into her comm.

“How!?!” Sam lands on one of the buildings overlooking the alley with Steve right behind him. “Okay, next time we find this guy, I vote we stick a tag locator in his wallet or something. If I wanted to spend my time finding some weird white guy in a cityscape I’d break out a Where’s Waldo book. At least that I can do from my couch.”

“What’s the next move Steve?” Natasha asks. “…Steve?”

Steve continues to stare down at the alley. Then he looks closer at the neighborhood around them. Suddenly he’s flashed back to a second life. A life where two boys caught wind of a speakeasy with the best moonshine in town and decided to have a night on the town. They had come on the same night as the cops and spent a lot of it running. Well Bucky did. Steve didn’t make it very far before he was thrown over Bucky’s shoulder. Without another word he urged his bike up and away.

“We have got to work on his communication skills,” says Clint.

  


* * *

  


“Tony, get a look of this,” says Bruce.

Tony glances up from where he was wrapping a blanket around Mari. She had fallen asleep on him while they were waiting for Bruce to finish Bucky Bear’s surgery. He stands up as carefully as he can without jostling her. Then he takes slow steps to where Bruce has the bear laid out on the table. He’s got a collection of small metal parts sitting in front of him next to the bear. When Tony leans down for a closer look he threads a hand in her hair so he can keep her head pressed against his chest.

“Is that a wing?” he asks in whisper.

“Yeah. Looks like it belongs to a lacewing or something. Here’s half of the other one I think.” Bruce slides a broken wing next to its counterpart. They were about an inch long and near translucent. Then he slides the remnants of some sort of processing chip over. “Do you know what it is?”

“I know it shouldn’t be in my tower.” Tony glared down at it as he leaned closer to it.

“Here,” Bruce stands and holds out his arms. “Give her to me.”

Tony pries Mari’s hands off his shirt and hands her over before taking Bruce’s seat. He gathers the bits of metal, then picks up what’s left of the head. Without looking up he holds out his hand and says, “Hand me Mari’s glasses.”

Bruce does as he’s told and watches Tony flip them open to examine the head closer. It looked like there were little barbs all along the nose of it. “Are you using those as a magnifying glass?”

“She’s certainly blind enough for them to work that way. Besides, she’s not using them right now.” He moves on to the chip. “No identifying marks that I can make out. Jarvis you got any observations?”

“I’m detecting more metallic material in the stuffing pile to your left sir.”

Tony turns and digs out a tiny module the size of a sunflower seed.

“Huh. Brucie, you have a baggie or something? Maybe a piece of paper?”

Bruce grabs a coloring sheet from the coffee table and hands it to Tony.

“Let’s get you down to the lab shall we?” He places the sheet of paper on the table and slides the metal pieces onto it before folding them up. He turns towards the stair way that leads down to his lab.

“Wait,” Bruce says in a hissed whisper. “You’re not just going to leave her alone with me are you!?!”

“…if you want to come check out this stuff too you can lay her down in Steve and I’s bedroom. But make sure you bring the bear down with you. She wakes up and finds his cotton brain matter still all over the place she is going to have a meltdown.” With that he struts down to his lab.

Bruce sighs and glances down at Mari who is still fast asleep. He then takes her to Steve and Tony’s bedroom as instructed.

  


* * *

  


Bucky throws his body against the door so the lock on the other side snaps off. He comes out into a cluttered cellar with sectioned off storage areas. After a cursory glance, he slides a shelving unit in front of the door. Then he makes his way up the stairs and out into the lobby of an apartment building. He nods to a little old lady collecting her mail as he heads out the door and gives a soft, “Ma’am.” He stuffs his hands in his pockets and strolls down the street. He only makes it to the next alley when a hand shoots out, grabs the strap on the bag he’s carrying, and pulls him off the street. He moves with the motion, using his momentum to swing around and slip out of the strap.

Steve stands in front of him with an expression he hasn’t seen since Bucky accidently said fuck in front of Mrs. Waterman and her three kids.

“I didn’t think you’d remember this place,” says Bucky.

“I sure as heck didn’t think you would either.” Steve bends the rifle over his knee still in the bag. Then he hooks it onto his hover bike. “Are you with Hydra again? Did they get to you?”

“No. I’ve been staying under the radar. Had a pretty nice setup in Bucharest.”

“Then why are you here taking shots AT MY KID!?!”

Bucky blanched. “WHAT? Why would you think that I was-well…okay I guess it was a little close for comfort.”

“’Close for comfort!?!’ She was right there Buck! That bullet was inches from her head.”

“Yeah I know! But I didn’t see the bug much before she did. That didn’t give me a lot of time to identify it. HYDRA has a whole range of those things. It could have been equipped to do anything from surveillance to assassination. I had to take it out before she did something stupid. Which of course she was going to do because she’s YOUR kid.” Bucky jabs a finger at him. “Couldn’t stay out of trouble if your life depended on it. Literally.”

“What bug?”

“The one she was swatting at. Look, you need to keep a closer eye on your little family for the next few months. I caught wind of a hit put out on Stark’s kid.”

“Mari!?!”

“No! Howard’s boy.”

“Oh, Tony. He’s not really a boy Buck.”

“Yeah, I could tell that by how you shove your tongue down his throat whenever the kid’s not in the room.”

“Have you been watching us?”

Bucky sighs and rubs at his neck. “Yeah. For a few weeks. When I heard about the hit I came back to New York. To keep an eye out. See if I could scare off who ever put the hit out.”

“Why didn’t you come to us? To me? Why this hiding in the shadows game?” Steve takes a step towards him but Bucky takes one back.

“Because you don’t need me in your life Stevie. Not anymore. You have a husband, a kid. You’re a modern family man now. You don’t need a decommissioned soldier from the past to drag you down. I’m still too dangerous.”

“But I do need my best friend.” Steve holds out a hand. “Come with me. We’ll sort all this out. We’ll take care of this problem together and then you can start a new life.”

“People like me don’t deserve one. Besides I gave you pretty much all the pertinent information I had in that folder. I don’t even know who put out the hit yet.”

“We do,” says a voice from further down the alley making the two men jump.

They turn to see Nat walking towards them with Sam and Clint behind her.

“If you’d like to join us, the invitation is open,” she says.

“It’ll probably involve blowing up shit and shooting bad guys,” Clint says in a sing-song voice. “Some of which may be some form of Nazis.”

Bucky looks to Steve who just holds his hand further out.

“You know you love a good Nazi punching,” says Steve.

Bucky snorts. “…aw hell. Why not? For old time’s sake.” He takes Steve’s hand who pulls him in for a hug.

“Till the end of line,” Steve murmurs.

“Till the end of the line.” Bucky whispers back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please help support me on [**Ko-fi**](https://ko-fi.com/Z8Z5DNDF) so I can have more time for you darlings!


	4. Chapter 4

As the tower came into sight Bucky lost some of his bravado. He started to shift in the seat behind Steve the closer they got. Then when they pulled into the hangar he scans the room around him. As the hangar doors close, he turns to watch his last chance to change his mind slip away. Steve’s lays a hand on his shoulder bringing his mind back to the matter at hand.

“The nerve center is through here,” says Steve as he nods towards the door that the others are entering.

Everyone except Black Widow who watches them closely. 

“I don’t think Natalia likes me much,” says Bucky.

“Don’t worry, she looks at all the new comers like that. She’s just trying to work you out.” Steve leads him towards the door. “And her name’s Natasha. We just call her Nat though.”

Bucky’s brow scrunches up at that. Was it? He could have sworn it was Natalia. Oh well, what did he know? His brain had been put through the blender more times than he could count. Steve led him through the door and Natasha followed after. They walk up to a large holotable and Clint brings up a map.

Steve says, “Jarvis, if Tony is still awake-“

“Of course he’s awake.” Tony steps out of the elevator with Bruce close on his heels. “I find out my nightmares can kill me and you think-“ He goes silent when his eyes land Bucky. Then in the blink of an eye he’s rushing towards Bucky with a gauntlet flying onto his hand from a standby Ironman suit.

Steve intercepts his path before he can get close. Tony tries to step around him but Steve wraps an arm around his waist. “Tony it’s okay! He wasn’t aiming at Mari.”

“I don’t fucking care!” He leans around Steve to jab a finger at Bucky. “You even so much as give my kid a wrong look and I am ramming a repulsor so far up your ass-“

“Tony!” Steve pulls him back to look him square in the face and give a disapproving frown.

“Don’t Tony me! I don’t care who it is or why! Anyone puts a bullet THAT close to my kid’s head I’m putting one in there’s. What if she had moved Steve!?! Slipped into the shot!?!” He glares at Bucky. “Did you think of that? Did it even occur to you that your amazing marksmanship could have been flawed?”

“Yeah but I’ve seen those bugs before. Sometimes they carry toxins. I thought it was worth the risk if it prevented her from being injected.” Bucky rubs at the back of his neck nervously and looks away.

“Tony, the head,” says Bruce.

Steve looks between the two. “What head?”

“We found a busted up mosquito bot. Inside the head was a vial filled with a nerve agent. I tried reassembling it but there were a lot of pieces that were too twisted up. We couldn’t work out a manufacturer.”

“It’s called a Watch Bug. HYDRA would sometimes use them. They’re literal flies on the wall and they’re usually filled with deadly goodies if anyone gets too close,” Bucky says.

"Are you saying HYDRA is involved?" Sam asks.

"HYDRA wouldn't be interested in a hit," says Nat. "They'd want to knock Tony off no doubt but if this is them it's unrelated to what Nefaria is doing."

"I've seen those bugs before in different lairs,” says Clint. “SHIELD has even been looking into their own versions. Trying to steal my job the little fuckers."

"Language," Steve says in a dry tone.

Clint rolls his eyes. "Point is they are made by a third party that likes to sell to both sides. So this could still be related to Count Douche-ula." He stares right into Steve's eyes when he says the nickname.

"Who's Count Douche-ula?" Bucky asks.

"Count Nefaria. We've had some run-ins with him over the years," Steve says.

"I.e. we kicked his ass and he didn't like it," Tony says.

Clint throws up his arms. "Why didn't you 'language' him!?!"

Steve frowns at him. "Because he doesn't still cuss in front of Mari on a regular basis."

"You know, when she starts asking about where babies come from I'm going to get my revenge. And I'm going to be petty about it."

"Can we get back to the whole killer Count issue please?" Bruce asks.

Nat nudges Clint aside and takes control of the holotable. The map changes to a world map with six diamonds floating over certain places. Four are scattered across Europe, one is near Tokyo, and another is on the east coast of the U.S. "These are all the know locations we have for Count Nefaria."

"He's at this one." Bucky points to the one in the States.

"How do you know?" Nat asks.

"Whenever Chameleon goes to meet with his boss he's never gone more than a few hours. I’ve tried following him but he’s a tricky son of a dog. I can’t stay on him long enough to get anything substantial."

"How do you know he's not staying at some hotel?" Sam asks.

Tony scoffs. "That pompous ass? No, he spent all that money bringing his family home over to the states. I'd bet Dummy that his Caped Italian hoo-ha is sitting in there right now." 

Sam arches a brow."Hoo-ha?"

"I'm trying out some new faux cuss words that don't make me sound like a white suburban dad."

Steve turns to him with a kicked puppy look. “What’s wrong with being a suburban dad?”

“Suburban dads do not wear Armani. Or have sports cars.” He turns to Steve and puts his hands on his shoulders. Then with a solemn stare straight into Steve’s eyes he says, “You ever see me in a Hawaiian shirt and socks with sandals. You put me out of my misery. Promise me.” 

Steve tries to fight down his smile as Bruce groans and says, “Somebody is trying to kill you Tony.”

Tony rolls his eyes. “And what else is new?” He claps his hands and turns back to the table. “Okay, we have an ass to kick and a location to kick it in.” He selects the New Jersey location and enlarges it. “Sam and I will come in from th-“

“You’re staying here,” Steve says.

Tony arches an eyebrow at him. “Excuse me?”

“Nefaria could have more gear that could worsen your condition close range. We should be able to get through this mission without Ironman. And if we can’t you can pilot the suit remotely.”

Tony opens his mouth to shoot back a retort only to be interrupted by a yawn. “Okay fine. But you still need a plan.”

-

The young tech laid against the console as the throbbing in his head grew more and more pronounced. With each pulse it felt like a bat to the head. Or a Russian bitch punching him in the face. He pushes his roller chair away from the computer and across the room to his bag. He rummages around until he finds his bottle of pain meds. The bottle keeps slipping from his hands as he struggles to twist off the child proof cap with two of his fingers in a splint. Just as he starts to make head way on the lid the metal door swings open and clangs against the stone causing him to jump. The motion sends the bottle flying.

“Why is the Watch Bug offline!?!” the Count yells.

The tech rolls his eyes before turning around to face the fuming man. “Don’t know yet.”

“What do you mean you don’t know!?!”

“It was working one minute then I lost the signal the next. The stupid brat probably had something to do with that.”

“Stupid brat!?!

“The kid was swatting at it-”

“SO THEY KNOW IT WAS THERE!?!”

“Look the kid may have damaged something but she couldn’t destroy it. Not with a fucking teddy bear. And even if it loses connection with the main control unit,” he motions to the large computer. “It is programmed to still carry out its primary functions. Including to hide itself.”

The Count grabs the tech by the collar and pulls him to his feet. “And if she tells her parents what she saw?”

“Then they’d buy some bug spray!” He jerks out of Nefaria’s hold and glares him. “Don’t get your cape in a twist! I reset the connection and I’m waiting for it to reconnect. Should be up in a while. With all your money you could have thrown a few extra bucks at your internet provider you know.” He walks over to the bottle and returns to prying the lid off. “How do you even know it’s offline? I thought I told you to stop hovering.”

“And I thought I told you to do your job. And yet, last I heard, Stark is flouncing around!”

The tech spins around on him. “Well next time you want to kill someone in their dreams, DON’T PICK AN INSOMNIAC!”

Count Nefaria opens his mouth to retort before a boom echoes down the hall. They see a squad of armed guards run past the door seconds later towards the sound.

“What on Earth is going on?” Nefaria goes to the door and looks down the hall after the guards only to see them get thrown back into a wall by a pulsar blast. He can hear the sound of whirring gears before War Machine steps into view. Glowing eyes glaring at him down the hall. A yell makes his head spin in the other direction in time to see one of his men thrown through a glass display case by Captain America. Nefaria barely makes it back into the room and slams the door shut before the shield is flying through the air, making a metallic ring as it slams into the door.

“Please tell me you didn’t also restart the connection to the nanites when you were slacking off.” Nefaria says as he runs to the computer. 

“No and I’d like to point out that I can easily get a job where I don’t have to suffer verbal abuse from you or physical abuse from Russian super spies.” He jumps as the door rattles in its frame.

“Then find one because you’re fired.”

“What!?!” He runs to stand next to the Count. “B-but you still need me!”

“No I don’t. Because after tonight, Stark will be no more.” He types a few more commands as the doors start to squeal.

The tech looks over the screen. “But the nanites aren’t designed to work while he’s awake.”

“Well let’s just see what happens when I-“ Count Nefaria breaks off his sentence with a yell when the doors burst open with a blast and a shield flies forward to lodge itself into the computer.

A moment later it goes flying backwards. The two turn to see Captain America catch it with a glare on his face. The tech steps away from Count Nefaria when War Machine and the Winter Soldier file in behind him.

The Captain marches forward. “You’re on my shit list Count.” He grabs him by the collar and lifts him from the ground. “Let’s not make this more painful than it’s going to be for you.”

“The East side has been cleared,” Falcon says, coming up to the doorway.

“West side too.” Black Widow says as she steps into the room with Hawkeye behind her.

The tech screams and shoots his hands up into the air. “I don’t work here anymore. He fired me.” He jabs a finger at Nefaria.

“Can you stop the nanites?” The Captain asks. He turns his head back to the Count when the man starts laughing.

“There’s no stopping the nanites. Even if they aren't active they're programmed to multiply faster than they can be flushed out. Which means they will always be there. You may have stopped me today but I will get out again. And I can build as many machines, like this one, as I need until one day you just can’t save him.”

Steve lashes out and lands a solid punch to Nefaria’s jaw. The Count only laughs. Steve feels a warm rage rush to his head when he smashes Nefaria onto the computer's surface. The man groans only for a moment before laughing through a coughing fit.

“I'll take care of this one while you work on that,” Natasha says as she steps forward to take the tech away.

The man lets out a high pitched squeak. “WAIT, I CAN STOP THE NANITES!”

They all pause to look at him.

Steve asks, “Are you sure?”

“Most definitely. I just...” He motions towards what is left of the control board.

“No!” Nefaria shouts as Cap drags him away from the machine. “Impossible! What have you done to my creations!”

“Created a loophole in case I needed to save my sorry ass. From, oh I don’t know, maybe a megalomaniac super villian looking to tie up loose ends or loses control of his little toys and has started armageddon. Or, here’s a wild one, maybe a violent Russian with anger management issues!” The tech waves his arms wildly at Natasha.

“I’d be more concerned with the former HYDRA asset with a twitchy trigger finger,” Bucky says as he aims the muzzle at him.

The tech yelps and scrambles for the flash drive in his pocket before shoving Nefaria away.

“Hey!” The Count shouts. “What are you doing!?! Stop it you spineless, figlio di putt-”

He lunges for the tech before he is jerked backwards by his collar. Cap lifts up so that Nefaria has to dance on the tips of his toes.

“Now do you kiss your mother with that mouth sir?” he asks.

“Why don't I take Mr. Potty-mouth out to the jet to cool off?” Rhodey steps forward and takes Nefaria by the arm in a bruising grip. “You make sure Hipster Harry here takes care of our guy.”

“Hey!” The hipster shoots a glare between them. “I have a name you know!”

“Good for you.” Steve reaches a hand up and forcibly turns the younger man’s head back towards the screen.

“I'll see you in a few.” Rhodey turns and drags the villain out the door with the Count shouting various curses and insults in Italian behind him. Just as they disappear out the door the curses get cut off by a thunk and a yelp. The Steve can hear Rhodey say, “I'm so sorry man. Those walls, they just come out of nowhere don't they?” Another thunk and pained yell. “Oop! There’s another one. Damn. They’re just coming out of the woodwork aren’t they?”

Steve smirks before turning back to the tech who is watching him wearily. He thumps his hand on the machine. “Well go on. Tip tap. Hit a button or something.”

“Calm down. The program is running. Ironman will be ready for his nap in ten minutes. And tip tap? What do you think coding involves?”

“Well I mean...my five year old does it soooo…”

The tech’s face drops into an unimpressed frown. “Your five year old is a-" He cuts off when every Avenger left in the room takes a threatening step forward with Steve looming over him. He gulps. “...is a very talented young girl.”

A small smile spreads on Steve’s face but his eyes take on a dangerous glint. “I think so too. Want to see pictures?”

-

One minute Tony had been leaning against the counter waiting for his next cup of coffee to brew, the next his eyes were flying open at the sound of voices in the penthouse. When he looks back to the coffee maker, his drink is brewed and there is a distinct lack of steam coming from it. He grabs the cup anyway before heading out of the kitchen. Steve is talking with Bucky when they come into the living room, still in their tactical gear.

Tony takes a drink only to grimace when cold coffee meets his tongue. He leaves it on the table behind the couch as he approaches the super soldiers. “So, are we cleared for takeoff?”

Steve smiles before stepping forward to wrap his arms around Tony’s waist. “Yes. You no longer have a legitimate excuse to stay huddled up in your lab all hours of the night.” He lifts a hand up to card it through Tony’s hair. “The nanities are shut off and they should leave your system naturally but I was thinking maybe an impromptu dialysis session was in order?”

“I’ll schedule one alongside the kiddo tomorrow. Right Jarvis?”

“Already done sir,” says the A.I.

“There we go.” Tony gives Steve a quick peck on the lips before stepping around him to address Bucky. “Alright Manchurian Candidate, obviously at this time of night I couldn’t exactly run out to Perigold but I’ve got your floor stocked with the basics. Tomorrow we can flesh it out some more. Get you a hang in there poster-“

“Actually Tony,” Steve interrupts. “I was going to set Bucky up in the spare bedroom.”

Tony stills and twists in a slow turn to stare at him. “Why?”

“Well I mean…” Steve shifts from foot to foot for moment before taking a deep breath and straightening his back. “With everything that’s happened we thought-“

Tony turns to Bucky. “We thought?”

Bucky throws up his hands and goes to sit on the couch.

“I thought,” Steve continues. “It would be best if he stayed close by.”

“And two floors down is not close enough?”

“He needs our help Tony.”

“And he’s going to get it. Two floors down.” Tony throws out his arms in confusion.

“He doesn’t need to be shuffling around an empty apartment by himself. It would be good for Bucky to be up here. With us.”

“It would be better for Bucky if he was left out of this please,” Bucky says in a hesitant voice.

“Don’t help,” Steve and Tony snap.

Bucky turns back around and stares a hole into the coffee table.

“Why are you fighting me on this?” Steve asks.

“Why are YOU fighting me on THIS?” Tony asks.

“Bucky needs family around him.”

“NOT MIN-“ Tony’s mouth snaps shut. He glances at Bucky before glaring at Steve. “Outside.”

Bucky turns to watch Tony storm out onto the balcony with Steve close on his heels. They start arguing again before the glass door completely shuts. When the glass closes their loud voices turn to soft murmurs. Bucky sighs and runs a hand through his hair. Just as he contemplates slipping out before they notice he hears a small shuffle to his left. He turns to find a little girl glaring daggers at him with a teddy bear in her arms. Great. Someone else who has a reason to hate him. He waits for her to say something but she just glares at him.

“Um…hi…?” he says.

“You shot Bucky Bear,” she says in a clipped voice.

“Who the hell is Bucky Bear?”

She steps forward and shoves the bear in her arms at him. That’s when he notices the bandage wrapped around its head.

“Ah.” He leans around the bear to give her an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t apologize to me apologize to him!” She holds the bear closer to him.

He stares at the fuzzy face for a moment before looking back to her. “He’s a stuffed animal.”

She lowers the bear so she can glare at him full on. She takes a deep breath and straightens her back. Bucky can’t help but smirk when she reminds him of Steve. Steel in her spine and a look in her eyes that just dares him to take her on. And the pout was adorable. 

“Just because he’s a stuffed animal, doesn’t mean he doesn’t have feelings. Now apologize!” She shoves the bear at him again.

He pauses before turning to the bear. He speaks in a slow voice. “I am sorry.” He then looks to Mari.

She takes the bear back to hold it up to her ear. She nods as if she is listening to what the bear has to say. After a moment she gives a final nod. “Apology accepted.” In a blink her whole demeanor changes. She relaxes and smiles at him before climbing into his lap. 

He goes stock still before asking, “Isn’t it past your bedtime?”

“Yes. How come you said I was wrong when I asked if you were the man from the exhibit? You’re Papa’s friend right?”

“Um...yeah. I’m his friend but...I’m not the man you read about at the museum.”

“You have the same face.”

“I’ve changed a lot since then. Up here.” He taps his temple.

“Oh silly. That’s just called growing up. I’m not the same since I was a baby but that baby was still me.” She turns away to brush the bear’s fur with her fingers.

“It’s a little more complicated than that squirt.”

That’s when the bottom lip pops out in a pout again and he has to hold down on a chuckle when she glares up at him. “I’m smart. Explain it. I’ll understand.”

Bucky is about to give her an amused reply when he hears the door open and Tony says, “Mari, what are you doing up? It’s way past your bedtime. I already let you stay up as it is.”

She clambers down from Bucky’s lap before running to wrap her arms around Tony’s leg. “But I was scared.”

Bucky turns to see Tony and Steve entering the apartment again.

“Scared of what Kiddo?” Steve kneels down next to her.

She throws up her arms, the bear flopping around in her grip. “Papa your back!”

When her tiny arms wrap around his neck he wraps her in a tight hug in return. “Yeah I am. Now you said something about being scared?”

She pulls away enough to glance at Bucky. Then she wraps her arms tight around her bear but Steve keeps his grip on her. “The shadow was sitting in my room again,” she says in such a soft whisper that if Bucky didn’t have enhanced hearing, he’d miss it.

“Ah. I see. Is it still around?” Steve glances around the room as Tony steps closer to run his hands through her bed head.

She scans the room but when her eyes look out towards the balcony she takes a step closer to Steve. At first Bucky thought she was looking outside. After a moment though, he realizes she was watching the reflection of the living room on the glass. She mumbles into the teddy’s head, “In the hall.”

“Okay.” Steve kisses her forehead. “You want me to scare it off?”

“I want Daddy to do it. It doesn’t like his light.”

“One of the world’s mightiest heroes and I’m reduced to a flash light,” Tony mumbles under his breath. “Okay. But I’m going to need my sidekick.” He swings her up and she flings her arms out like an airplane, laughing loudly.

Bucky can’t help but chuckle at that.

Tony blows a raspberry on her stomach. “Come on. Why don’t you sleep with me tonight,” says Tony.

“Where is Pops gonna sleep then?”

“I suppose that’s Pops’ problem,” Tony says in a dry voice and shoots a glare at Steve over his shoulder. “See you at breakfast grease lightning.” Tony gives Bucky’s shoulder a light punch before walking down the hall.

Bucky turns to Steve and opens his mouth only for Steve to interrupt with, “Don’t say it. You’re not going anywhere. Even Tony agrees with me on that. He’s just...being…”

“Justified Steve.” Bucky stands to face him. “He’s being justified. I killed his parents. Now you want me sleeping across the hall from his little girl.”

“She’s my little girl too and that wasn’t you Buck.”

“You think that matters? I know that logically he doesn’t blame me but you don’t just get over something like that. And with everything that happened after...you need to give him some slack Steve. I’m YOUR long lost best friend. Not his.”

Steve sighs and rubs at the back of his neck. “I guess you’re right. I just don’t want to lose you again.”

“You won’t. Not for right now anyways.”

Steve comes back over and they bump fists before dropping back on the couch. Then Steve says, “Why do I get the feeling you know more about my husband than I do?”

“Tony Stark was a prime target for HYDRA. It was always expected that one day they’d send me out to drag him to that hell hole. I had to read a dossier every few years on him.”

“I’m glad that day never came.”

“Me too. I mean, then I’d miss out on Papa Steve. Please tell me she’s made you play dress up.”

Steve laughs as the tension in the room breaks. “No. Not yet. She’s more of the mad scientist type. That toaster over there?” Steve points at the kitchen counter. “Our third one since she got here. And it’s not like we can reprimand her for it because the minute Tony sees she’s poking around something electronic, he’s right there with her. Pokin’ away. They’ve built two toaster robots.”

Bucky gives a hard laugh at that. “And she’s a troublemaker? Oh I’m going to love seeing you run around like a chicken with his head cut off.”

“I will have you know, I am very capable at this whole Dad thing,” Steve says with a pout.

_So that’s where she got that._ Bucky smirks. “Oh yeah? What’s your plan for boys?”

Steve gives him a hard glare. “We do not speak of that age.”

“Alright, alright. Don’t get your American flag in a bunch. Just one more question.”

“What?”

“Why is the bear named Bucky?”

Steve looks sheepish and rubs at his neck. “Oh. That. Uh…” He starts to stand up. “Uh, hey Jarvis are the spare toiletries still in the hall closet?”

“Yes sir,” says Jarvis.

Bucky slowly rises from the couch. “Punk-”

“I’m just gonna…” Steve flails a hand towards the hall. Then he is skirting around the couch and darting out of the room.

“Punk! You get back here and explain why you named a teddy bear after me!” Bucky goes racing after him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please help support me on [**Ko-fi**](https://ko-fi.com/Z8Z5DNDF) so I can have more time for you darlings!


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